Vampire Kiss
by Sapphirefly
Summary: Stalking a vampire is dangerous business, until you find out that what you're stalking is worse than a vampire. AU VH
1. First Sight

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne.

Author's Notes: This is another story like 'Whenever You Want' - meaning that I have no storyboards, no beta reader - I am merely writing this for my own amusement and because of frustrations in other areas in my life. Actually, I don't even promise that I will leave this posted here or that I will write another chapter. Also, I make a reference to Louis from Anne Rice's Vampire chronicles in this story, but this isn't fanfiction based on her writing. I have my own thing going on here, so keep yourselves together - kay?

* * *

**Vampire Kiss**

_**By Sapphirefly**_

**Chapter One**

**First Sight**

"Do you believe in vampires?" Hitomi asked suddenly.

Her next door neighbour Yukari was sitting on the other end of the bed painting her fingernails. She shook her head like she was bored and answered drolly, "You have got to be kidding me. Who actually believes in something like that?"

Hitomi hadn't been expecting Yukari to be very enthusiastic, but her tone was so much less than that. "I guess nobody does," she said, getting up and heading for the door.

"Wait!" Yukari shouted after her. "Why are you asking?"

Hitomi stopped at the door and thought for a second. Something interesting had happened late that afternoon, but Hitomi didn't know if she was prepared to spill her guts. For Hitomi, it was like a one-in-a-lifetime chance and if she told Yukari, who might not understand the uniqueness of it – maybe it would lose some of its sparkle. It wasn't like they knew each other very well. This was their first year in university and Yukari's room was right next door. It was nice that they got along enough to watch each other's backs through the hectic month of September – especially living in dorms - but now that they had settled into their respective grooves, Hitomi wasn't sure if they were very compatible after all. Yukari was a member of the track team, while Hitomi was trying to find a_different_ kind of group to join.

"Come on," Yukari urged. "Did something happen?"

Hitomi frowned. She didn't exactly want to tell Yukari, but she had to tell someone, because she couldn't get his eyes out of her mind. She sat back down on the bed. "Well, I went down to the Student Group's office after classes to see if there was an interesting group I could join."

"Huh," Yukari said, perking up a little bit. "Did you find anything?"

"Sort of," Hitomi said, biting her lip. "There are a lot more student groups here than I thought there were. So, I was sitting in the Student Group's office perusing the list of groups on campus."

"And?" Yukari asked impatiently. "What does this have to do with vampires?"

"And this guy came in."

Yukari screwed the lid back on her nail polish. "Now I see where this is going. There's always a guy."

"Fine. Yes, there is _always_ a guy," Hitomi said, sorry that she had even begun to confide in Yukari. She had been absolutely right – the fun of the meeting was lost now and she hadn't even got to the good part. "Yep, that's right," Hitomi continued, getting up and heading back towards the door. "I saw a guy in the Student Group's office that was so bleeding hot that I was totally reminded of Louis from 'Interview with the Vampire. End of story. Thanks for listening."

"Hey!" Yukari called after Hitomi as she closed the door behind her.

Once safely back in her own room, Hitomi bolted the door and sat down at her desk. Sometimes no one understood her – no one except her precious lappy.

She pulled her laptop out of her school bag and set it up on her desk. Luckily, the dorm was equipped with a wireless internet connection, so the only thing she had to do was plug the power cable into the wall to recharge her pathetic battery's juice. When that was done, she opened her email and went straight to her blog.

Hitomi loved her blog. It was called 'Moon Light Reflections' and it was a wonderful place where she could talk about her life without fear of misunderstanding. Her screen name was 01PearlMoon. Sometimes an online life was just more satisfying than having to explain something precious with real words to real people – who wouldn't let her finish her sentence without butting in. The black screen loaded in and showed her beauteous banner which was a picture of the moon and the stark white text on the pitch black background.

Her last post had been about her fascination with Tarot cards. She scrolled to the bottom to see if anyone had commented. She still got comments from her high school friends, but they didn't visit often since apparently, they all had hectic lives outside of their machines. They hardly ever logged on to text anymore. However, Hitomi wasn't bothered too much by their inconsistency. Recently she'd begun getting comments from someone new – someone interesting.

She didn't know their real name and she wasn't sure if they were a girl or a boy – not that it mattered to her. They called themselves ReadyEyes808 and while none of her friends visited – this person had. Their comment was short, but encouraging.

"I have never had my fortune told, but to hear you tell it – it sounds like I'm missing out. I made a blog. Come visit me sometime." Then the address was keyed in below.

Hitomi had every intention to go visit them, but first she had to write down her experience with the vampire she'd met that afternoon. She clicked to enter her account and pulled up the window. But, before she wrote anything, she had to find an appropriate graphic. Naturally, she found a pic of Louis and then she started her blog:

"Today I saw a vampire. Don't get me wrong, he didn't introduce himself to me as a vamp, but you should have seen the absolute beauty of this man. I was just sitting on the couch in the Student Groups' office trying to find an occult group to join at my school when this guy came in. His hair was perfectly black and straight. It was just long enough to fall into his eyes, which were also perfect by the way. Everything about his face was fascinating; the way his nose tilted up, the way the muscle in his jaw bone flexed (he was chewing gum), the way he looked around until he found what he was looking for. Now, I know I didn't say what about him made him look like a vampire, but his skin was so pale it looked like he had been powdered – even his lips were white. If only his eyes were green like Louis', but instead they were milk chocolate brown. This man's eyelashes were like fans against his cheeks.

"I wanted to go talk to him, but I couldn't even pull myself together enough to close my gaping mouth. So, there I was staring at him with my tongue hanging out when he turns and looks at me. My mouth snaps shut. I wanted to look away, but he was looking at me so strangely – almost like he knew what I was thinking (that I was seeing a real vampire for the first time) and it amused him. I think that might have been a smile. Then he finished talking to the director of Student Groups and headed out, but you will not believe what did before he left. He winked at me!

"Do you think he thought I was crazy?"

Hitomi stopped typing and read over her post. Yeah, that had at least done justice to her feelings. Not like talking to Yukari – bah.

She posted her blog and went to go check out ReadyEyes808's new blog. When the page came up, it was not black like hers, but the layout for the screen was white and all the text displayed was a deep blood red. The banner was a pair of red anime-like eyes. The design of it was simple, and possibly one that Hitomi could have chosen for herself. But somehow that red struck her as a little darker than her black. She shook her head. It was just a colour.

Before she read the first post, she looked at the 'About Me' section. It read: "It fills my blood and caresses my body. It kills my spirit and makes me move … so I move … And it makes me prove what I am and where I lie each time I die under the vampire moon." To say that Hitomi was fascinated was an understatement. Soon she was scrolling madly, searching for more information about this person. With a few clicks, she found the bio information he had listed. It said that he was a man in his early twenties.

"Thank goodness," Hitomi exhaled as she moved back to the first page to read his blog.

"Today I saw an angel. I was at work – bored as usual. I guess she was hanging out at the university after hours for some reason. My guess is that she was probably waiting for her loser boyfriend. Who would keep her waiting? Personally, I would never keep a woman like that waiting. But maybe 'woman' is a little too strong a word for her, since she barely looked eighteen, so probably still more like a kid – but very pretty. She smelled like apple blossom perfume with the faintest brush of cinnamon. It was really bewitching. I'm trying to think of other words to describe her, but I can't think of any except pink: like a fluffy cloud at sunset, or like coral from the sea. I'm probably dreaming, but I can't get her out of my mind.

"If I introduced myself to her, do you think she'd be interested in me? Nah, I didn't think so either. I could practically see the wings sprouting out of her back and the halo glistening over her head. Even if she really is single, I'm a little too devilish for a girl like that."

Hitomi smiled and scrolled to the bottom. She was going to comment, but when she got there she was surprised at how many people had already commented. There were comments from at least seven girls – all gushing at the sweetness of this guy.

Hitomi wasn't sure if she wanted to comment after all, but he was one of the few people who consistently visited her blog, so she opened the window to send her comment. "You met an angel today? Well, I met a vampire. Watch, those two will hook up and you and I will stay single. LOL! Thanks for visiting my blog."

* * *

Over the next couple of days, Hitomi went back to the Student Group's office several times. She asked the director if he remembered who he was talking to the first time she came in. Unfortunately, he had no idea.

"I talk to a lot of people, so sorry, I can't remember," he explained.

Hitomi decided not to bother going back there. Oh well, at least she thought she found a student group she was interested in joining. It was called The Occult's Addict and they met every Friday night at midnight – always at a different location. They had an office and Hitomi went there after her classes one afternoon to find out where their next meeting would be.

The door to the club was decorated in black paper with papier-mâché skulls attached to the front of it. Luckily for Hitomi, the door was wide open and inside there were a couple people talking.

She knocked on the door and said, "Hi. Is this The Occult's Addict club room?"

There was a young man and a young woman in the room. Both the boy and girl had silver hair that struck Hitomi as most unnatural, but at the same time – she couldn't spot anything on their heads that indicated it was dyed. The silver went right to their roots. The girl had blue eyes surrounded by white lashes and the boy had red eyes also surrounded by white lashes. Maybe their hair colour was natural after all. It was the boy who stood up to greet her.

"Hello. How can I help you?" he asked lightly.

"I was interested in learning about this club," Hitomi explained, even though she felt like it was obvious.

"Well, come on in and we'll tell you about ourselves," he said, making room for her to enter. "Have a seat," he indicated a bucket chair covered in an orange and black tiger print. "I'm Dilandau and this is my sister, Celena. She's the treasurer and I'm the secretary."

"Who's the president?" Hitomi asked.

"Another set of twins. Well, one is the president and the other one is the vice president. Their names are Naria and Eriya. You don't have a twin, do you?"

"That's not a prerequisite, is it?"

"No," Celena said, "But it is more fun that way. You see, interesting backgrounds make for interesting research."

"What kind of research?" Hitomi asked.

"Well, what sort of things are you interested in, or rather, what activities would you be interested in participating in?" Celena continued.

"Tarot cards," Hitomi said.

Dilandau laughed, "Tarot cards and horoscopes, eh? You're a first year, aren't you? Please tell me you don't have a teen girl magazine in your bag."

"I don't!" Hitomi hotly defended. "I'm interested in other things, too."

"Like what?"

"Vampires, crop circles, demons, psychics … you know. Those sorts of things," she stuttered.

Dilandau rolled his eyes, "Vampires, eh?" He seemed to be looking at something on the back of the club room door. Hitomi couldn't see it from where she was sitting. "Yeah, we've got a few people we're investigating on campus, who we think could be vamps."

"Yeah, I saw a guy yesterday that I thought might be one."

"Is this him?" Dilandau asked as he turned his back on the door and kicked it shut.

As the door clicked, the poster on the back flattened out. It was a black and white picture of the guy she had seen in the Student Group's office. He wasn't looking at the camera. It was a shot that accentuated his jaw and the vein that ran down his neck. There in plain sight were three perfect sets of bite marks.

"Has this photo been meddled with?" Hitomi asked, getting up and touching the photograph with her fingertips.

"No," Celena said.

"Is he part of this club?" Hitomi continued – very excited.

"No. This club houses freaks, but not his kind."

"You wouldn't want a vampire to join you?" Hitomi asked. She didn't understand.

"If he wanted to join, we'd be thrilled to have him, but," Dilandau paused. "He wouldn't want to. None of the people we've tried to recruit have ever wanted to join. They like their secrets and more than anything else – they like to pretend like there is nothing wrong with them."

"Anyway," Celena interrupted. "We're having our next meeting tomorrow night at midnight at the observatory. It'll be a full moon and we're going to memorize of the different names of the craters and learn what the different phases mean when predicting the future. Do you want to come?"

Hitomi's eyes almost bugged out of her head. "Of course I want to come," she blurted.  
"Great," Celena said, pulling out a membership application form. "Have this filled out when you come and don't forget the registration fee. We have to pay to rent some of the venues that we have our meetings at, as well this club room, so your fifty dollar fee is very important to our survival as a club. Please don't forget it."

"Thanks," Hitomi said as she took the paper.

"We'll look forward to seeing you," Dilandau said, opening the door for Hitomi.

"Wait!" she exclaimed. "Aren't you going to tell me who this guy is?"

Celena bit her lip. "He's one of our pet projects. We really wouldn't appreciate you running to him and telling him that we've been watching him. He probably wouldn't like it and if he reported us we would get in trouble with the University for stalking him."

"I wasn't going to tell him, or the University. If you're investigating paranormal activities, doesn't that involve studying people most of the time?"

Dilandau smiled. "You've got it exactly right, Hitomi. Do show up tomorrow and we'll make you an official member. Besides, you're interested in fortune telling, right? Tomorrow should be right up your alley."

"Are you sure you can't at least tell me his name?" she begged. "I've been completely obsessed with him since I first saw him."

Celena frowned and shook her hair. "His name is Van Fanel."

Hitomi grabbed the door and turned it so that she could see his picture again. "Van, huh?" she said out loud, thinking of how completely captivating he looked. "Hey, can I write on this poster?" she suddenly asked. Her time spent in art class made her want to write and draw on anything that sparked her imagination.

"Go nuts," Dilandau said as he threw her a set of markers. "He's probably just an ordinary guy who has a girl friend with a vampire fetish."

"I hate how you always assume that everything is common place and boring," Celena remarked.

Hitomi couldn't take her eyes off the picture of Van. She opened the set of markers with unseeing eyes and fumbled clumsily around until she finally had to spare a glance at the package to find what she wanted – the red. She uncapped the felt pen with her teeth and began colouring on the paper.

"Think she's in love with him?" Dilandau whispered behind Hitomi's back.

"If she's not – then it probably won't be long," Celena murmered.

Hitomi didn't care what they were saying. She finished up and stepped away from her handy work. She hadn't done much. She'd only coloured his iris red, but to her eyes it was a vast improvement.

Celena walked up behind Hitomi and put her arm on Hitomi's shoulder. "It looks better that way. I think Naria and Eriya are going to love it."

Hitomi put the lid back on the marker and said quietly. "If you ever decide that you don't want this picture anymore – I'll buy it." She turned over the bottom corner and wrote her email address with the black marker.

"How much?" Celena asked.

Hitomi looked at it. She wanted it in her dorm room so badly her mouth was watering. "A hundred," Hitomi said.

"S-O-L-D!" Dilandau and Celena said together putting their arms around Hitomi's shoulder.

She should have tried to bargain more before she said that grandiose amount. Since they took the picture, they could obviously make another copy if they wanted to.

"I'll even gift wrap it for you, so bring the money and you can pick it up tomorrow night," Celena said, smiling.

"Now, you had better show up tomorrow!"

Hitomi said good bye to the two of them and headed out of the clubroom and towards the elevators. She pressed the button and ruffled her hair. Life had just gotten unexpectedly interesting.

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Author's Notes: Thanks for reading. 


	2. Hang the Moon

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne, but I sure wish I did, so that I could sell some of this stuff.

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**Chapter Two**

**Hang the Moon**

Hitomi arrived at the observatory a few minutes before midnight. It was early October and so the weather was chilly and cold, even though the first snow had not yet fallen. She had brought her winter coat as well as her toque and mittens to help fight the frigid wind. She didn't know how long she would be able to sit outside since the observatory was not an enclosed space, but instead simply a gigantic telescope on top of one of the science buildings. There was a lit foyer right before the entrance onto the roof though, so everyone was waiting there before going outside.

"Howdy there!" Celena called out in a tone that was almost friendly when Hitomi came through the doors. "Glad you found the place okay."

"Yeah," Hitomi said, taking off her mitt in order to shake hands with Celena.

"I don't think I caught your name yesterday," she said.

"I'm Hitomi."

"This is Naria and Eriya," Celena said pointing to two exquisitely beautiful blonde women. They looked like fourth years, or maybe even grad students – but lovely. They were almost painfully lovely – and exactly identical. They had taken to tinting their hair different colours in order to help people differentiate between the two of them. Naria had tinted her hair gold, while Eriya had tinted hers silver.

"Nice to meet you," Hitomi said politely.

"You know Dilandau," Celena continued, going around the room.

Dilandau was crouched in the corner with his laptop stretched across his lap. The bright screen illuminated his face as he examined something closely. He had quite a bit of equipment with him and something else that grabbed Hitomi's attention – a long tube of rolled up paper – undoubtedly her poster of Van. She was itching to open it.

"This is Marlene, Eries and Millerna," Celena said, introducing Hitomi to three more blonde girls. They were standing in a circle behind Naria and Eriya clasping hands and praying.

"Are they nuns?" Hitomi couldn't help asking.

"Not exactly," Celena said swiftly. "They are sisters – not triplets – just in case you were wondering. Millerna is still in high school, but since not all of our membership has to be made up of high school students, she is welcome to attend. Eries is a first year like you and Marlene has been a member for a few years. You probably won't believe this, but they actually make up a small coven of white witches."

Hitomi's eyes rose. "Really? Are they looking for members?"

Celena shook her head. "No. Witches do things in threes. They wouldn't dream of taking anyone on unless they were bringing a couple more with them. You would have to help them have six members or nine or twelve. But, you're not a witch already, are you?"

"No," Hitomi said.

"Then you don't qualify. They only want real witches – the kind with real magic and if you don't have it, then you don't have it. It's as simple as that."

"So if they're witches, what are Naria and Eriya?"

Celena inclined her head towards Naria, who was fully capable of answering for herself, and then made her way over to Dilandau. She had already introduced everyone who was there.

Naria smiled and explained, "Well, I'm not sure what occult groups you're used to, but Eriya and I are the true Gemini. We're not exactly two souls trapped in the same body – we're one soul in two bodies. Our bonds are very tight and we can feel each other's thoughts and wishes."

"What about Dilandau and Celena?" Hitomi asked, eager to learn as much as she could.

"That's interesting," Naria said, inviting Hitomi over to sit down at a small table by one of the windows. "Normally, when I tell someone something about Eriya and myself – they think we're crazy."

"I don't think you're crazy," Hitomi said.

"No, I guess not. You really are into this stuff, aren't you?"

Hitomi nodded eagerly.

"Celena and Dilandau are Siamese twins," Naria said seriously, and then she waited for Hitomi's response.

Something in Hitomi's brain clicked and she immediately started up, "Are you sure? Aren't Siamese twins always the same gender because they are identical twins who haven't quite separated?"

"Very good," Naria praised, although it appeared that she was only minorly impressed. "They say that they were joined at the hip, and I've seen their scars from when they were surgically separated, so I don't think they are lying. They say that one of them is cross dressing, so they might be two boys or two girls." Naria glanced over to them. "I've been watching the two of them for years and I can't decide which gender they could both be. Sometimes Celena's voice is so husky that I think that it couldn't possibly belong to a girl and other times Dilandau's cheek is so smooth that I think that he couldn't possibly be a man. What do you think?"

Hitomi glanced at the two of them. Celena was sitting beside Dilandau looking at something he was reading on his laptop. Celena wasn't very curvy, but Hitomi didn't feel like criticizing her for that – she wasn't very curvy herself. Hitomi looked at Dilandau. This was quite the mystery. When Hitomi met them yesterday she had taken it for granted that Dilandau was a man and Celena was a woman.

"I don't know," Hitomi said to Naria sheepishly. "I wish I could tell the difference."

"So do I," Naria said speculatively. "I have a reason for explaining all this. You see, The Occult's Addict is not a club that Eriya and I formed. Back in the day there were a lot of different members and Eriya and I had to prove to them that we had a psychic connection in order to gain membership."

"Really? How did they test you?"

"Well they took us into separate rooms and asked us random questions. We gave the same answer for ninety five percent of their questions. So, we were invited to join. Now Celena explained about Marlene, Eries and Millerna and I've explained about Celena and Dilandau and Eriya and I. The thing is, right now you only have trial membership (provided you remembered your application forms and our fee). You only get full membership if you are or can do something unusual."

"Like what?"

"Once we had a girl who could bend spoons with her mind."

"I can't do that," Hitomi said weakly.

"Let me see," Naria said, thinking. "You already said that you're not a witch. Not a psychic?"

Hitomi shook her head.

"Dilandau said that you liked tarot cards. Do you tell an accurate fortune? Having a fortune teller could be cool."

Hitomi shrugged her shoulders. "I could give it a try."

"Wait," Naria said, raising her finger as though she had just thought of something brilliant. "I've thought of the perfect thing. What about vampire hunting?"

Hitomi's eyes opened wide in shock. "Do you mean killing vampires?"

Naria laughed. "Do you honestly think that I would let one of my club members commit murder? No sir! I just meant that you might have a good time in our club if you researched some of our campus vamps. I might be able to get you full member status for something like that … if you're good at it."

Hitomi thought about it for a second. She wasn't sure how to respond to that. Did she really want to let everyone in The Occult's Addict to know that there was nothing she wanted more than to dedicate her life to stalking Van Fanel? Dilandau and Celena had obviously told Naria about her interest in him.

Naria must have noticed her indecision because she said, "Well, you can think about that later. Did you bring your application with you?"

Hitomi reached into her bag and brought the papers, as well as a ten dollar bill for the registration fee.

"Excellent," Naria said, taking them from her. "Celena!" she called. "Come over here and make Hitomi a receipt."

Celena sat down at the table with her receipt book while Naria read through Hitomi's answers to the application questions. Her eyes squinted several times as though she were surprised at Hitomi's answers. Well, Hitomi was surprised at some of their questions. They asked the usual questions like: Name? Date? How did you hear about us? What faculty are you in? But then they asked other questions and some of them Hitomi didn't exactly want to answer. For one thing, they wanted a detailed account of where Hitomi had lived her entire life. She'd been born in a small town called Clearwater, gone to school there and never once moved. It was boring and she didn't like to admit it. They also wanted to know what nationality she was – which she didn't know. Her last name was Kanzaki, so she'd always thought she was Japanese, but her colouring was about as Japanese as Princess Diana's. They asked a lot of other questions too, but Hitomi didn't understand the relevance of them.

"You don't mind if I do a background check on you, right?" Naria asked pleasantly.

Hitomi raised an eyebrow. "Background check? What the heck for? You've already asked me everything from my opinion of the theory of Atlantis to my blood type."

"Yeah," Naria said laughing. "It's just that some of your answers are a little … curious, so I'd like to look them up. If that's okay with you."

"Knock yourself out," Hitomi said blandly. Like it mattered – her life was pure boredom. Sometimes it felt like she hadn't even existed before she'd left home and come to university.

"So Hitomi," Celena said, leaning across the table and changing the subject. "I brought you that lovely poster of Van. Did you bring the money?"

"Yes," Hitomi said, opening her wallet and parting with five very flat twenty dollar bills that came straight from the ATM. She was going to regret spending quite that much, but her breath was coming fast.

"Here you go, Darling," Celena said, handing Hitomi the poster. "Unroll it to make sure I haven't cheated you."

Hitomi bit her lip and after scooting the rubber bands off both sides pulled it wide. Her breath caught. He was even more beautiful than she remembered. He was amazing. "Thank you Celena. This is gorgeous."

Naria smiled pleasantly and said, "Oh, and I think Dilandau has something else for you, Hitomi. That is, if you're interested in pictures of Van."

"There are more!" Hitomi gasped as she accidentally let go of one of the poster edges. It swiftly rolled back up.

"Yeah," Celena said, a conspiring smile on her lips. "He even brought his mini printer. I think he's selling pics of him for five bucks a pop."

"Too expensive!" Hitomi balked.

"Well, maybe he'll be willing to give you a deal if you're going to be a repeat customer. But, I just saw his pics. I think they're worth five dollars a piece."

"Go have a look," Naria said. "We've got a few minutes. Our little coven is still chanting for luck. Marlene and Eries have midterms next week."

Hitomi rolled up the poster and joined Dilandau on the floor.

"Hi Hitomi," he said, offering her a piece of carpet. "I feel like a prick doing this, but our club is in desperate need of funds and you liked that poster of Van so much … It's sort of rude for me to charge you for pictures of him and sort of rude not to get his permission. Anyway, these are the other pictures I took that day. These ones happen to be in colour. Fat lot of good it does him since he's brown and white instead of black and white."

Dilandau made a slide show of his pictures of Van and let them change every twenty seconds, but twenty seconds was not enough for Hitomi. Each picture was so gorgeous that Hitomi wanted to salivate over each one longer. After awhile Hitomi decided that it had to be a combined effort. Yes, Van was good looking, but Hitomi doubted that he would have looked quite that good if Dilandau hadn't worked hard searching for that perfect moment.

Suddenly, Eriya returned to the foyer. Hitomi had been so involved in her conversations that she hadn't even realized that she was gone. "Sorry it took so long, Kittens, but we're finally ready to go.

Dilandau shut his laptop and reached for his toque. "This should be fun for _you_," the tone he used was derogatory. Exactly like he could think of a hundred better things for him to be doing with his time, but nuts – he had to spend it here.

Hitomi frowned at him. "Don't you like looking at the moon?"

His eyes flashed. "Until you've loved the moon – you've loved no one."

"Wow … deep," Hitomi said callously – like she was getting him back for making fun of her.

Dilandau swallowed hard and opened the glass door for Hitomi to follow the others onto the roof. They all gathered around the telescope while Eriya took the reigns and led the lecture.

The sky was quite clear though the light pollution from the city drowned out most of the stars. A few planets were visible though. Hitomi could see Venus, but she wasn't sure which one was Mars. The moon was bright too. Most of the face was showing, though it wasn't a full moon. The shadows of the craters fascinated Hitomi. She couldn't wait until it was her turn to look through the telescope.

"Tonight we've got a waxing gibbous moon," Eriya said, explaining the wide D shape of the moon. "Next week at this time, it'll be a waning gibbous moon. Too bad our meetings are only on Friday nights, or we all would have been able to watch Marlene, Eries and Millerna dance naked under the full moon."

"Har har," Marlene said like she was far from amused.

"Okay, so when you look at the man in the moon, what are the names of the seas?"

Dilandau answered with out thinking, "The right eye is the Sea of Clouds. The left eye is made up of two seas; the Sea of Tranquility and the Sea of Serenity. The nose is called Central Bay and the mouth is called the Sea of Rains."

Naria didn't look surprised, but Hitomi was. "Way to go, Dilandau. You really do love the moon."

He shrugged his shoulders like he didn't care for Hitomi's praise when something caught both their eyes over the edge of the building. Someone was shouting, or blowing a whistle, or perhaps both. Hitomi went to the edge to have a look at what was going on.

Down below, a man was chasing another across the grass. The man being chased was running awkwardly. Hitomi watched as the graceful man pursuing him ran effortlessly and much faster. Within moments, he had overtaken the other. He forced him onto his stomach and pinned his wrists to his back. The man pinned to the dying grass yelled and screamed, but Hitomi couldn't understand what he was saying, even through the cold autumn air.

"That's your boyfriend," Dilandau said, as he came and stood beside Hitomi.

"That's Van?"

"Yep."

"But why was he chasing him?" Hitomi wanted to know.

"Oh, I don't know. There could be loads of reasons. Van's always doing that sort of thing. He's the director of Safewalk here on campus."

"Safewalk? You mean that you call him when you want someone to walk you across campus when it's late? How weird! Now I know he can't be a vampire! A vampire would never take that kind of job."

Dilandau smiled knowingly. "Are you sure? I thought about it a lot too when I first spotted him and suspected that he might be a vamp. But after awhile, it seemed like the perfect cover. While it's still controversial exactly why vampires prefer night – it's still a given that they do. Safewalk doesn't operate during the day. And it gives him an excellent reputation, because he's doing something so charitable. And he gets to see crazies like that guy down there all the time, so maybe he's not so starving either – though I've never caught him doing anything truly suspicious."

"But Safewalk is so goody-two-shoes!" Hitomi whined. "It's not something a cool vampire would do at all."

"Maybe not," Dilandau said peevishly. "Look, I don't know what he's got on his mind, but maybe he's sorry about the whole vampire thing. Or maybe he's trying to protect our students from a more dangerous vamp. Who knows? Maybe you should ask him."

"Maybe I will," Hitomi said, still looking over the ledge at Van, as he helped the gentlemen from Campus Security lift the guy he'd just chased. She looked at her watch. It was twelve thirty now. She looked down at Van and measured how long she figured it would take him to finish up at campus security and head back to the Safewalk office to wait for another call. She squinted and watched them leave quad. Then she made up her mind. She'd call in an hour – at one thirty. But until then, why not have a good time?

She tried to listen to Eriya, but it was challenging. Afterwards the three little witches had brought white hot chocolate which they shared with everyone. Hitomi had never seen such dainty little mugs as the ones they served their hot chocolate in. It was delicious. They even had the sense to squirt a little cream in the top of each mug.

Hitomi went out to the roof several times and looked in the microscope. The atmospheric waves that vibrated between her and the moon blew Hitomi's mind away. She couldn't believe that they obscured her vision so much. She wanted to learn the names of all the craters and seas, but there were far more than she had imagined. Instead, she settled for looking at the city lights.

Dilandau came and stood by her. He might have been hitting on her, but Hitomi couldn't get the idea out of her head that he might be a girl and so she couldn't stop looking for clues that would lead her to the truth of his identity. She was far more interested in unravelling the mystery, and besides – if he was hitting on her – he was going about it the wrong way. He was still trying to sell her pictures of Van. Before one thirty she even bought a small stack that he printed on his mini printer, but none of them were as good as her poster.

A few minutes before one thirty, Hitomi said that she was done for the night and that she was going to head back to the dorms.

"Right," Naria said, suddenly standing up and commanding the attention of the other club members. "So, Hitomi said that she's done for tonight, so I'll announce the next meeting. The next meeting will be in the Forestry's green house. Marlene's going to teach us about the medicinal purposes of some of the plants there. Interesting eh? Don't forget Hitomi. We'll meet at midnight next Friday. Don't miss it."

"I won't," Hitomi said as she excused herself.

"Here, I'll walk you back," Dilandau said, probably using his best gentleman voice.

"No need," Hitomi said with a wink. "I'm gonna call Safewalk."

Dilandau clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth. "I knew that I shouldn't have told you that."

"Oh come on! It's not so lame as all that."

"It's way lamer, since you don't think what he's doing is sexy," Dilandau said blankly. "Well, whatever. I'll see you next week." He turned around and went back to the others.

Hitomi put her photographs that he'd printed in her bag before she realized the hypocrisy of his statement. She wasn't going to let him get away with that. She went back towards Dilandau and said, "Hey. Why are you acting so surprised? You knew I was interested, and you even sold me pictures of him, so why are you acting like it's pathetic that I want to meet him?"

"That's not what's pathetic," he said, scratching his ear.

"Then what?" Hitomi demanded.

"Hey, just go," he said in a slightly different tone of voice. "There's no reason why you can't call him. Go ahead. I'm sure you'll have a great time."

Hitomi didn't know what he was talking about, but she'd had enough, so she turned around and headed out of the foyer, towards the elevator. There was a red Safewalk phone on the main level – she was sure.

* * *

Author's Notes: Hiya! Thanks everyone for reviewing. Maybe I will write this story after all. Once again, I have no beta reader and I'm just writing this by the seat of my pants for the amusement of anyone who happens to be reading it. And yeah, I know Van wasn't in this chapter much and all Escaflowne fans perish and die when Van isn't around, but please try to bear it.. He'll be around plenty in subsequent chapters.

By the way I forgot to mention it, but the 'About Me' section of ReadyEyes808's blog is a poem of mine called 'Vampire Moon'. It's available with all my other poetry on fictionpress. There's a link to my account there on my profile page if you're interested in other poetry by me.


	3. A Little Fire

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne. I never get to own anything - blah.

* * *

**Chapter Three**

**A Little Fire**

After Hitomi made her call to the Safewalk office, she stood in the entrance of the building and waited for her escort. She wasn't surprised when Van showed up, but she was surprised by the girl he had with him. 'Why couldn't he have come on his own?' she wondered angrily.

"Hi. Are you Hitomi?" Van asked in deep mellow tones. Then he smacked his gum against his front teeth and gave her a heart-stopping smile. His cheeks were so thin, she didn't imagine before that he almost had a dimple in his left cheek.

Her heart quickened, but she managed to smile, nod, and collect her backpack from off the floor.

The girl who was with him looked … bored. She wore a Safewalk hoodie and she buried her hands in the pockets. Hitomi despised the moments that she had to spend evaluating her, because those were precious seconds that should have been spent looking at Van, but she suspected that she might be a form of competition since she was already acquainted with Van. The girl had dark eyes and the most attractive splatter of freckles across her nose, but her face did not smile and her eyes did not laugh. Hitomi found herself rejecting the idea that she had a significant relationship with Van and turned herself completely towards him.

"I'm Van," he said, "and this is Merle. Where are we taking you?"

"The South End Dorms," Hitomi answered cheerfully.

"Wonderful," he said, and there was something in his voice that made it sound like it really was wonderful. Those were the farthest dorms from the science building they picked her up from. Was he really excited to be taking her all that way? That seemed too good to be true. She was probably imagining the catch in his voice. He probably sounded like that all the time.

As they started walking, the wind picked up. Van and Hitomi walked side-by-side on the pavement while Merle fell slightly behind them. It was getting cold though and her breath froze in the air.

Hitomi shivered and said out loud, "Wow, it's cold. I wish I brought my gloves."

"Van," Merle called from behind. "Since it's so cold, why don't you link arms with Hitomi? Maybe you could even hold her hand in your pocket as we walk. It's a really long way to the dorms."

Hitomi felt distinctly uncomfortable, since it clearly sounded like Merle was making fun of her, but decided to turn to see how Van reacted to this statement.

His head was turned and he was looking back at Merle, like he thought her suggestion was funny rather than alarming.

"Let's hurry, shall we?" he said, quickening his pace.

Hitomi skipped a little and forced herself to catch up with Van, but when she turned around, she saw that Merle had slowed her step in response to Van's request. Soon they were out of earshot, but Van slowed down to give Merle a chance to catch up.

"We don't always get along, Merle and I, but it's Safewalk rules that all teams have to be made up of guy/girl partnerships. It's because girls like you are afraid to walk with two guys. If a guy and a girl go with them they're supposed to be more comfortable."

"What about the guys? Are they more comfortable?"

"Ah, but they don't call as much. Actually, most of the time when I've escorted guys, it's because they need help carrying their library books to their room," he laughed.

"Are you serious?"

"Always," he said, giving her another flirtatious smile.

By that time, Merle had caught up and passed them. "Come on," she snorted. "I want to get back to the office and get a coco, so let's move."

Van smiled and obeyed.

That was the end of Van's dialogue and in truth Hitomi was glad. She found his presence slightly overpowering and in the back of her mind there was a little voice that warned her that if she chatted him up too much he would ask what her poster was a picture of just to make conversation. Her fear of being discovered as a pathetic groupie was enough to keep her tongue tied. She would try again later to talk to him.

They dropped her off in the lobby of the dorms and headed out again with little more than a wave. It looked like Van would have taken her all the way to her room or maybe even said a few friendly words, but Merle's pager was buzzing which meant that they had another job.

Hitomi smiled and forced herself to turn around and walk with confidence up the stairs. At least at the end, she wanted to look a little cool, so she didn't watch him leave the building or cross the street. But she thought about it.

Once she was back in her room, she was much too wound up to sleep. Instead, she took off her winter gear and pinned up her poster. She had been thinking about where she could put it since the day before. Finally, she decided that the only place was on one of the sliding doors on her closet. That way, she could at least hide it if … well, if someone she didn't want to see it happened to be in her room. But that was just wishful thinking. Van probably had a girlfriend. Actually, he probably had a collection of girlfriends. She didn't have a chance with him. So, he definitely wouldn't be visiting her dorm room and there was nothing to worry about.

After that, she put on her pyjamas and got into bed, but she had no intention of trying to sleep. She hooked up her laptop and snuggled with it instead. Once she had it open, she went directly to her blog and wrote all about her first night with The Occult's Addict. She wasn't sure if she wanted to talk about calling Safewalk to have her vampire walk her home. In the end, she wrote it out, but ended up saving her description of the evening on her hard drive and leaving it out of her blog entry.

She checked her email, wrote a few of her friends back home and then surfed the web.

It was awhile before she made her way to ReadyEyes808's blog, but when she finally did, she found that she was very interested in what he had to say. The title was 'Step into the Confessional'.

He started out, "Forgive me for I have sinned. I'm always sinning, but tonight I felt worse about it than usual. A few posts ago, I mentioned that I saw an angel. Tonight, I met her. You should have seen her eyes. Before I thought that she radiated goodness, but now that I've seen her more closely, I see that I was wrong. It was more like innocence. Once I carefully examined her, it was clear that she didn't have a boyfriend. She has never had a boyfriend. Her mind has never been consumed by the flavour of lust or want or desire. Never felt hate, jealousy, obsession, or been spoil by too much of anything poignant.

"For someone like me, the combination was far more devastating than if she had been good – like my first impression.

"For one thing, if she had been good I would have been able to play my true role. I wouldn't have had to hide any of myself from her. Women who are truly good are wonderful for men like me. Throwing yourself on the mercy of a good woman is a precious experience, because a woman like that knows exactly how to comfort you. I'll spend an entire night from midnight to six telling a good woman what I am and she patiently listens and offers comfort at all the correct moments. It would be a perfect situation, except that she always wants to reform me. But an innocent girl somehow isn't tipped off that there's something wrong with me just by looking at me. And she somehow inspires me to be ten times more rakish than I usual. Why? Because I know I can get away with it.

"And that's why I'm a liar. Wouldn't it be wonderful to meet a girl you're interested in and have the confidence to just be yourself? To just move like you naturally do, speak the way you do, look the way you do? That's all a dream to me, because everything I do is a lie. I have to hide my eyes which look unidentifiably tragic. Unless I make a conscious effort to the contrary – they look sad – hopeless. Why? Because I am completely without hope. But tonight, around this innocent girl – my charade was worse than even I am liable to be. Even my best friend noticed and commented that I was acting like I was on the prowl.

"And why shouldn't I be on the prowl? Even though I'm young? Even though I want a girlfriend? And even though I'm alone and I hate it?

"Because all of that is over for me. Love is dead. And only heartbreak and ruin could follow my relationship with this girl if it should grow. In my mind, I can see what she would turn into if we got together. I'm not a fortune teller, but I can see it as easily as if it was already the past.

"She's sitting in my armchair at six o'clock in the morning. She hasn't slept all night because I wouldn't let her and she's smoking a cigarette. There are purple lines under her eyes – I can feel her exhaustion – but I don't feel sorry for her, because she didn't leave when she had the chance. Her wrists look pathetically slender as she moves her hand to and from her mouth. She's lost twenty or thirty pounds since I first saw her. The scent of apple blossoms is gone and what was once pure what has turned a hideous grey. If she hadn't gotten involved with me, who knows what bright future she would have experienced, but now that she's fallen under my shadow – she's a little more than a corpse.

"Since that's my guess of our future, I won't pursue her, no matter how much I'm drawn to her. She's like a beautiful but blank piece of paper that I have no business writing upon. I have nothing to offer. Not friendship or love or devotion …

"There's no love in this world and practically no life … not for me. This place becomes more and more of a wasteland under my eyes each day. And the worst part is that there is no end. My life is a cage of self torment, but I can't let up – I deserve it. And there is no way she deserves to be stripped of everything about her that was gentle and decent.

"I'll never meet that girl again."

As Hitomi read his post, her heart was filled with such a deep sorrow that she almost cried. She couldn't believe that anyone felt that desperate – that anyone despaired that much. She loaded in her comment as soon as possible. She had to be gentle and encouraging. She couldn't allow anyone to feel this depressed. It was against her very nature.

"Dear ReadyEyes808," she wrote and as she typed she tried to envision a human being at the end of that name, even though it was an alias.

"I wish desperately that I was there beside you tonight. I wish that I could soothe you and comfort you. The voice you use in your writing makes me feel desolate. I wish I could shelter you from your feeling of self loathing and show you a brighter way. I don't know you very well, but I have felt your friendship across the circuits and wires of the internet, so I don't know the person you're talking about. I only know the one who comes to comment on my blog – who has visited more consistently than any of my old friends from high school. And even though it hasn't been much to you, it has been one of the high points of my day. I wouldn't even mind meeting you in real life. I'm sure we would make excellent friends. Goodnight, my sweet. Don't forget, there are always people who care what happen to you, so don't despair."

She signed her alias and wished that there was more that she could do. But that happened to be everything she had.

* * *

Hitomi woke up the next morning with her laptop stuck between her bed and the wall. She had barely managed to close it before she drifted off to sleep the night before. So, she must have kicked it off the bed during the night. Now, she was pulling it out and apologizing to it like it was a person.

"I'm sorry Lappy," she mumbled. "I'll always set you on the floor nicely before I zonk out from now on. I promise."

After her apology, she turned to see Van's glorious face and the three perfect bite marks down the side of his neck.

"And good morning to you, too, Van. Thanks for watching over me last night. Today will be a perfect day because you were the last person I saw last night and the first thing I saw when I woke up … or something like that," she said with a playful shrug of her shoulders.

After that, Hitomi went down to the cafeteria and had a bowl of Frosted Flakes in a cup. She didn't even realize that she was alone until she happened to see Yukari having breakfast with some people at a different table. Hitomi didn't even have the sense to feel awkward when Yukari's eyes met hers. Instead, she merely gulped down the rest of her breakfast and went back to her room.

It was Saturday, so she had a few errands to run. They weren't much, but she needed to get a load of laundry done in the Laundromat and then she needed to visit a supermarket. Her dorm room was pathetically empty of all snacks. Then she had a paper to write. So, her day was so booked that she didn't even think her life devoid of friends as she hauled a bag of dirty clothes to the elevator.

"Besides," she reassured herself. "I am part of a student group and the rest … doesn't really matter." She had great plans to call for another Safewalk after the next meeting with The Occult's Addict. And the thought of that was enough to carry her through her day.

Hitomi read one of her text books while her laundry flipped around and around in the machines. She had been lucky to get a machine and happy that she only had one load of underwear to do.

Then she went on her little shopping excursion.

Needless to say, it was awhile before she flipped open her laptop to check her email. Maybe one of her friends had responded to her email. But as Outlook loaded, there was only one message and it was from ReadyEyes808.

"01PearlMoon," it started out. "I suppose the one at the beginning of your name must mean that you are the only pearl moon. Sorry, I'm cheesy early in the morning, but your comment on my blog meant so much to me. You sound like one of those 'good girls' I talked about in my entry. I know it's probably way out there, but you said you wouldn't mind meeting me. I know meeting people online is scary, but I'll tell you what. If you're ever at the UofA (University of Asteria), please let me know and I'll tell you how to find me. I wouldn't mind meeting you either."

Then he signed it, "Love ReadyEyes808."

"Whoa!" Hitomi gasped.

That was where she went to school.

* * *

Author's Notes: I'm a bum. I freely admit that 'yes' I am a bum. The thing was ... well ... a lot of stuff. Anyway, thank you to anyone who reads this. I'm been so neglectful and bad, but I've thought of a way to move this story. I had no beta reader, so there may be a lot of errors. I tried to spot them, but I may have missed a few. I just wanted to get writing something so bad. Please review. I haven't had any reviews in ages. Love, Sapphirefly


	4. Fountain of Good Fortune

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne.

* * *

**Chapter Four**

**Fountain of Good Fortune**

Hitomi stared at her laptop screen. Yes, it said what she thought it did. ReadyEyes808 went to her school. It was possible for her to meet him if she wanted to. He had been very open with her and told her where he was from, giving away his personal information without even the slightest worry. But the idea of meeting with him in person was a little daunting for her.

She realized now that what she had said to ReadyEyes was fairly irresponsible. She spouted off that line about wanting to meet him while thinking in the back of her mind that she would never have to. Normally, when she met people on the internet, they were from the other side of the world and a meeting would have been impossible.

What was she going to do?

She abruptly closed her laptop and went for a walk. At first, she was simply wandering, but eventually she found herself looping her way down to the student group office and heading towards the club room. It was only a coincidence that she happened to pass Safewalk on the way. Who was she kidding? It was four o'clock in the afternoon. There was no way Van would be walking anyone until after dark, so no matter how sneaky she tried to be about it, there was no possibility of 'accidentally' running into him.

In actuality, she didn't think the club room would be open either. That's why she was surprised when she turned the corner and saw the door wide open.

She tip-toed up to the door.

When she peeked around the corner, she saw Dilandau, with his back to the door, leaning over the office computer looking at some pictures of crop circles.

Hitomi smiled. That was one of the topics she said she was interested in. Was it possible that he was investigating it for her? Maybe. Maybe not. Whichever, the idea, no matter how impossible, put Hitomi in a good mood.

"Hiya!" she greeted pleasantly as she paused in the door frame.

Dilandau wasn't even surprised. "You have the stalking ability of a ground hog," he said lazily without even turning around. "But you're welcome to come in."

Hitomi came in and found herself a place to sit in the crowded office. "I had a good time last night at the observatory."

"Really?" Dilandau drawled, closing the open windows on his desktop and turning his attention towards Hitomi.

"Was looking at the moon really that boring for you?" she asked.

He smiled and brushed his white bangs off his forehead. "Of course not. It's just that Celena and I have been in this club since the first month of first year. The only new members we've got in all that time have been the witches and although they can do some pretty amazing tricks … they're white witches – and that's the boring part."

"You prefer black magic?" Hitomi asked coyly.

"I would prefer something interesting – like you for instance." As he said those last four words his eyes zeroed in on Hitomi's.

His intensity made Hitomi jump. "I'm not anything special," she said, blushing slightly and sweeping away his comment like he hadn't made it. He was probably just joking anyway.

"We'll see," he said, taking a star-ship paperweight off the desk and balancing it on the back his fingers.

Just at that moment, Hitomi got an idea. What if she asked Dilandau about her problem with ReadyEyes?

"Hey Dilandau," she started. "Have you ever met someone you know on the internet in person?"

He arched one eyebrow curiously and then laughed. "No, but that's not to say that I wouldn't. It would depend."

"Depend on what?"

"Depend on how I felt about them and what kind of a connection we had. If it was a girl, I wouldn't hesitate. I'd want to meet her right away – no questions asked. If it was a guy … I don't know why I would want to meet him, unless he was claiming to be a werewolf or something, and if that was the case, I'd invite the whole Occult's Addict to meet him, too."

"Ah, but I'm a girl."

"So, you're meeting a guy?"

Hitomi nodded.

"Romantic? Ugh! Please tell me that you didn't meet him in a singles chat room. If you did, I'll have you banned from the clubroom on charges of poor taste."

"No," Hitomi countered, quick to dispel his fears. He was always accusing her of crazy things – like what he said before about the Teen magazine. "I met him through my blog. He's a regular visitor."

"You have a blog?" Dilandau asked inquisitively.

She smiled. "Yeah."

"Can I have the address, so that I can be a regular visitor, too?" he asked, opening Firefox and waiting for her to tell him the address.

She told him and he quickly typed it in.

"Ah," he said when the page finished loading. "This is adorable, and for your last entry you wrote about our meeting last night. That's really good of you, but I see you haven't written anything about Van. Considering the level of your obsession, I half expected that you would have already scanned the pictures I sold you last night and uploaded them. Instead, you haven't mentioned his name, but you've put my name in three times. I'm honoured."

"I didn't want to talk about Van online," she mumbled, wondering why in the Hell she had given Dilandau permission to look at her entry. When he asked her if he could look at it, she'd forgotten that she'd written anything at all about him and was only thinking about what his thoughts might be on her format. It hadn't even occurred to her that he would read the stupid thing.

"Why not?" he asked.

"I don't know," she answered blankly, clearly playing dumb. After meeting Van last night while carrying her poster of him, she felt the remorse of a hopeful groupie. Now that she was in the light of day instead of the delirium that infects everyone after midnight, she wanted to move away from that sickening image of herself as quickly as possible. No more buying pictures of Van from Dilandau. If she happened to get them then all well and good – she could drool over them on her own time – but no more ridiculous behaviour. At least, that was what she told herself.

"Well? Wasn't Van as good up close and personal last night as he was on paper?" Dilandau asked, rousing her from her thoughts.

She had to act like she didn't care. She shrugged her shoulders and asked him if he liked her layout.

"It's beaut," he said, before he clicked on her comment bar and saw a comment posted by ReadyEyes.

It was one Hitomi hadn't even seen yet, because she had been caught up in his email that she hadn't bothered to check to see if he had commented on her blog.

It read, "Your student group sounds fascinating. I wish I had the time to participate in something I was interested in like that. It really fits the image I have of you. Make sure you write a detailed post about your next meeting. I would be really interested in hearing what you do for your next activity."

"Is it this guy, ReadyEyes808?" Dilandau asked.

"Yep."

"He sounds like a wanker. I wouldn't bother meeting him if I were you."

Then, to Hitomi's horror, Dilandau clicked on his name and was directed to his blog. There was his post 'Step into the Confessional'. Hitomi wanted to close the window to stop Dilandau from reading it, but she dared not wrestle the mouse out of his hand. Besides, now that he had loaded it once, he would undoubtedly be able to read it anytime he wanted, even if she stopped him from reading it in front of her. She paced around the room, smothering her urge to stop him. Besides, when she looked at him, he was reading so intently. Maybe he'd change his mind about ReadyEyes being a wanker, but Hitomi thought that the chance of that was low - definitely too low to be measured. Dilandau probably thought that everyone except himself was useless.

When he was finished he turned to Hitomi and said, "I've changed my mind."

"Really?" she asked, totally shocked.

"Yes. I think you should invite this guy to come to the meeting on Friday. From what he's told you, do you think he'll be able to come?"

"Yeah, probably. He told me that he goes to this school."

"Really? Then you should definitely invite him. Like I said, it would be interesting to get some new blood in here and he sounds warped. He'd probably make a good boyfriend for Celena, so make sure to invite him."

"Wait, are you sure?"

"Yeah. Besides, we'll watch your back and make sure that nothing bad happens."

"Okay," Hitomi nodded. She was a little bewildered, but what Dilandau said made a lot of sense. Inviting ReadyEyes to her club activity was a perfect way for her to meet him for the first time.

"So, it's almost five." Dilandau said. "Want to go out to supper with me?"

"A date?" Hitomi asked, perking up a little bit.

"Not a date. Remember that Celena and I are still playing our little game?"

"Oh right. No one knows whether the two of you are both female or both male."

"Yeah, and I don't want to blow my cover. Celena's still having a lot of fun laughing at everyone for not being able to figure out the truth."

Hitomi frowned. "Well, if you're not a guy, then you've definitely been able to fool me. Sometimes it even feels like you're hitting on me."

"I am hitting on you, but it's up to you whether you want to hit back," he said, meeting her eyes again in the most serious way.

In just one second, Hitomi made her brain think of him as a woman instead of a man and she felt chills from her skull to her tailbone. "If you're a girl, then you've got the whole 'guy' act down perfectly."

"And if I'm a guy?"

"Then you shouldn't play with my feelings for your amusement," she said, getting up and leaving the club room.

"Hey, what about dinner?" Dilandau called after her.

"Some other time," she said over her shoulder.

He got up and went to the door to talk to her. "Wait. What are you going to do instead?"

"I think I'll see if I can get ReadyEyes on MSN. Maybe I can get him to come to our meeting this Friday."

"I'd rather you ate with me and put ReadyEyes on hold. Do you really like him that much?"

Hitomi took a deep breath before she answered him. "Listen, I know that it really shouldn't matter if you're a girl or a guy in order for us to be friends, but I'm having a hard time reacting to you. I don't want to put any pressure on you to reveal your true identity to me, but I'm …"

"Straight," he answered for her – looking bored.

"Yeah."

"Well, why did you have such a hard time saying it? It's obvious, especially after the way you were chasing Van last night."

"Sorry," Hitomi flushed. "I'm such a loser. I'm just …"

Dilandau waited patiently for her to finish.

"I just would feel a lot more comfortable if I knew whether or not you were what you seem to be."

"Well, work hard. Maybe you'll be the first one to figure it out," he said smoothly before he grabbed his coat and switched off the clubroom lights. "See you later, Hitomi."

Hitomi walked to the elevator with him and playfully smacked his shoulder with the flat of her hand. "Hey, don't be in such a hurry to say 'good-bye'. We still have to take the elevator together."

Dilandau stepped into the elevator with a sigh and pressed the button to take them down. "Oh, goody," he said sarcastically.

* * *

Even though Hitomi said that she was going to try to get ReadyEyes on MSN, it took a lot of nerve to log into her account and invite him to chat with her. She agonized over it for most of the evening before she finally did it. In the end, the only reason she was able to press the 'finish' button was because she kept telling herself, "_He won't be online. He won't be online. He won't be online_."

However, he was, and he accepted her invitation.

"Hi," Hitomi typed hesitantly.

"Hi," the reply came back immediately.

"This is going to take forever," Hitomi moaned aloud. Then she got down to business typing to ReadyEyes what she had on her mind. "I was really intrigued when I got your email saying that you attend the UofA. I go there, too."

It was a second before his reply came through. "Really? Do you still want to meet me?"

Hitomi was a little reluctant to answer, but Dilandau had said that the whole Occult's Addict would stand behind her. "Yes," she typed. "My club is meeting this Friday in the Forestry's greenhouse at midnight. Would you like to come?"

"I have to work," was his response. "But give me a little time, and I might be able to find a replacement."

"It's okay. If you can't make it to this meeting, you could come to the next one. My club is called the Occult's Addict." She posted the link to their webpage. "You can look at the schedule on their site. I just joined, so I'm not listed as one of the members, but I'm very interested in it, so I can pretty much promise that I'll always be at their meetings from now one."

"It's okay, I'll be there. I already found someone to take my place."

Hitomi gawked. "That fast?" she typed.

"Yeah. I'm at work right now, so it's easy."

"Should you really be playing around on MSN when you're at work?"

"You make it sound so irresponsible," he responded. "But it's not. A couple of other guys are playing Super Smash Brothers on the Wii."

"What kind of a job do you have?"

"A very respectable one, I assure you."

"It sure sounds like it (wink)."  
"Well, do you want to tell me your name, or do you want to leave it a secret until the last second?"

"Isn't that more fun?"

"Then how will I know you?" he typed.

"Let me think …"

"… I'm waiting …"

"Okay, I'll be wearing a green sweater."

"I'll see you then, but right now I've got to go. Got a call."

Hitomi's mood went a little flat as his icon turned red. After they started typing, she got in the mood to chat, but he signed off so quickly. In the end, they didn't really get a chance to talk. Hitomi stayed online until she went to bed, but ReadyEyes didn't sign in again. It was too bad, she thought, she wanted to get to know him a bit better before they met.

After turning off the lights, she lay in bed and thought about Van, Dilandau and ReadyEyes. If things went well at the meeting on Friday, she'd get to meet ReadyEyes without much trouble, he'd leave before she did, Dilandau wouldn't cause any trouble and wouldn't flirt with her too much, and she'd get to call Van for a walk at the end of the night. But, things never went as well as she expected.

* * *

Hitomi didn't see ReadyEyes online again before their meeting. He didn't email her, he didn't comment on her blog, and he didn't make any new posts on his own, which Hitomi thought was amazing considering how many girls posted on his blog to express their sympathy to his wretched state. Most of them sounded a lot like her. Was he planning to meet all of them? _Yuck!_ She was starting to doubt the sanity of promising to meet him. If Dilandau hadn't offered her the safety net of numbers, she would have backed out by now.

Even though ReadyEyes didn't write anything in his blog, that didn't stop Hitomi from writing in hers. She wrote several entries. There was one where she posted the paper she wrote for one of her classes, another one where she posted one of her poems (inspired by the Van on her closet door, though she wouldn't have wanted to admit it), and one more where she talked about the increasing anxiety she felt with midterms coming up.

Since she'd given Dilandau her blog address, he became a regular visitor. Though he didn't admit his name, his alias was ForceofDestruction. At least, Hitomi didn't think it could be anything else. For the post that housed her paper, he said what he expected her grade to be (he was only off by two percent when she got her paper back on Friday morning). For the poetry, he pointed out a spelling error and commented on how innocent she was.

His exact words were, "Poor child, still wishing to be a vampire's victim. If only I had fangs to turn your throat to ribbons. Then I'd have your heart, and it wouldn't matter to you if I was a man or a woman."

Hitomi was a little annoyed by his remark. It was true that she was fascinated by the dark majesty of a vampire – especially by the promised romance and mystery of that kind of a relationship – but she didn't often reflect upon the price the beauty and immortality paid. In short, she had never considered being murdered by a vampire, and when she did think of it the idea didn't disgust her. Instead, it only diminished the pleasure of dreaming of a dark lover. It felt like Dilandau had seen through her visions and wanted to point out the obvious evils that she couldn't see through her haze of idealism. She hated him for bringing it up when she felt like Van (her pretend vampire) was unattainable … for her. So, what was so wrong with dreaming about him?

"_Monster_," she thought angrily before she typed her reply. "With that sense of humour, even if you had the sharpest incisors in the world – my throat would still be out of your reach."

She didn't believe that Dilandau could melt her heart after how much he offended her with his last comment, but when she complained about the course load and how much work she had to do, he was awfully sympathetic.

"I'm sorry, my dear," he wrote politely. "I know what you're going through. We all go through it at this time of year. If you tell me what courses you're taking, I might be able to help you. I think I wrote an essay like yours for a philosophy class I once took. Please come by the clubroom and I'll give you all the help you could possibly want. And if things still go wrong, I'll cram you full of junk food until you don't know what's what and then I'll let you admire my photo album (there's something there I know you'll be interested in)."

Then he signed it, "You're loving pal, 4ofD."

Hitomi wouldn't normally have been touched, but she didn't have anyone to turn to when it came to school work. His offer meant so much more because she knew he wasn't bluffing. He really would help her.

His consideration made her smile. Besides, when was the last time anyone had paid this much attention to her? She couldn't even remember.

* * *

Hitomi slipped her green sweater over her head. It was an old sweater, but it was the one she promised ReadyEyes she would be wearing that night. As a matter of fact, it was her secret weapon. She looked fantastic in green because of her eyes, and the soft pond-water green of that sweater made it the most accenting piece of clothing she owned. It was short through the body with extremely long sleeves and a charming boat neck, but that wasn't the most charming thing about it. It was fuzzy. When she paired it with a long bodied tank top, the straps showed at the neck and the body of it covered her stomach, which was good, considering how cold it was.

After putting on her jeans and enough black mascara to make her eye lashes dramatic enough to catch any man's attention, she felt like she was ready to go. At ten to midnight she left her dorm room and headed towards the Forestry's greenhouse. Once she was half-way there she realized that she should have called for Safewalk to escort her, but it was already too late.

"Next time," she promised herself as she hurried, but she still felt stupid for not thinking of it sooner.

The Forestry's greenhouse was an extension of their main building and a part of the city campus. It was actually closer to her dormitory than the science building that had the observatory. It only took her a few minutes to walk there.

Hitomi approached the doors, peering speculatively through the glass.

"Wow," she whispered appreciatively. "I didn't know there was a place this beautiful on campus."

Through the glass windows, she saw the interior of the greenhouse. There were cement walkways, glistening fountains, steady pools of water, exotic trees, foreign crimson blossoms, and as she opened the doors and entered, she heard the chirping of birds. The members of the Occult's Addict were already assembled in the centre, and the witches were setting up dragonfly shaped patio lights around the centre of the room.

"They wouldn't let us have candles in here. You know – a fire hazard," Celena explained as Hitomi entered.

"This place is amazing," Hitomi breathed.

"Yeah, it is, but haven't you been here before? It's one of the sights on campus. And look, there are fish in the fountains."

Hitomi looked in and saw their white and orange bodies tracing through the water.

"They're just here during the cold season. They'll be in the outside fountains this summer."

"Hey," Hitomi said, looking around. "Where's Dilandau?"

"Oh, he's somewhere. He's probably pouting. He's been in the foulest mood today. Something's bugging him. Who knows what? But what about you?" Celena asked, suddenly changing the topic. "I hear you're meeting a guy you met on the internet here tonight? It's good of you to incorporate it with our club. We can always use more members, you know." Heady excitement was lighting up Celena's eyes.

"Yeah, he should be here any second. Which reminds me," Hitomi said as she took off her coat. "I told him I'd be wearing a green sweater."

"So, you don't know what he looks like?"

"No. Is that bad?"

Celena answered, but Hitomi didn't hear her because just then, the most astonishing thing happened. Van Fanel, the director of Safewalk, the object of Hitomi's wildest and most passionate dreams, walked through the door.

Hitomi's heart took a plunge in the fountain behind her – the fountain of good fortune – and she didn't even have to throw in a quarter.

* * *

Author's Notes: Thank you to everyone who took the time to read and review the last chapter. I was so amazed at how many people are still hanging in there with this story after it took me so long to update. Thank you! And the comments I got were so thoughtful. I don't know if I've ever got such detailed reviews for a chapter before. I was really impressed and thankful. I don't know if I wrote anyone back - I went and worked on the next chapter instead - which is hopefully the way you guys would want me to react. Once again, thank you.

And a special thank to thejoshgray for beta reading. Cheers!


	5. Wildest Dreams

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne, but I wish I did, cause then I could publish this.

* * *

**Chapter Five**

**Wildest Dreams**

There he was. Van Fanel was standing in the doorway looking at the membership of the Occult's Addict. His near-black hair was falling into his eyes and brushing his white cheek. Hitomi could not believe her good luck as she stood hypnotized by him. She could hardly focus, but she wanted to remember everything – the brown khaki pants, the layers of grey and green T-shirts, the red rose in his hand … _he was holding a red rose? Who was he giving that to?_

Hitomi nearly screamed as his sherry eyes settled on her and focussed on her green sweater. Then he was walking up to her with steady, even strides and extending the rose between his pale fingers to her.

Then it clicked. Was it possible that Van Fanel was ReadyEyes808?

"Hi," he said easily. "Thanks for agreeing to meet me. I've met you before, though. Your name's Hitomi, right?"

Hitomi took the rose and touched its petals with her fingertips. She gulped nervously before responding. "Thank you. Yes, I'm Hitomi. I remember you walked me home last week. You're Van. You're the director of Safewalk. So, that explains why you're allowed to instant message and play Wii when you're at work. As long as you go when it's time to walk someone, no one cares what you do?"

"Basically," Van laughed. "See? I told you. It's very respectable."

"Very."

He put his hands in his pockets – completely ignoring everyone else in the room, even though they were all staring at him. Then a half smile played upon his lips in self-ridicule. "Yeah, if I'd known Pearl Moon was going to be you – I would not have got you a red rose."

"No? Why not?" she asked, slightly affronted.

He smiled weakly before locking eyes with her and saying unabashedly, "I would have gotten you a bouquet of white lilies. Red isn't really for you."

"Aren't lilies for funerals?" Naria said, interrupting their exchange and making her presence known.

Van turned his head slightly towards her, "Depends on your culture, doesn't it? For some of us, they symbolize youth and beauty." His voice was smooth and completely unruffled by Naria's challenge.

"You know about that sort of thing?" Naria gushed, quite suddenly changing her tune. "You really belong with us tonight. We're discussing plants and their medicinal properties. Please join us."

"That was the plan all along," he said, putting his hand in the small of Hitomi's back and guiding her toward the knot of members in the center of the greenhouse.

Everyone sat together on the floor in a circle on straw mats that the three witches had brought. The witches provided the food as well and the menu, though small, was delicious. They served mango and pomegranate on large green leaves. When the mango slices reached Van, Dilandau perked up. Hitomi knew he was watching carefully to see if Van would eat the fruit. He wanted to see if he really was a vampire.

Van declined saying, "Sorry, I gag on mango." But he willingly accepted the pomegranate and ate the kernels expertly. Hitomi had never seen anyone eat anything so beautifully. There was one moment when a drop of red juice dripped down the side of his cheek.

Hitomi stared.

"Is there something on my face?" Van asked, smiling broadly. So broadly in fact that the corners of his mouth spread like a curtain to unveil two very sharp-looking incisors.

"Blood," Hitomi mumbled, completely mesmerized by the red on the powder-white of his flesh.

"What did you say?" Van asked, leaning forward.

Hitomi pulled herself together and said, "You've got a little juice on your chin."

"Really? How crass!" He pulled a handkerchief from one of his cargo pockets and wiped it.

But Hitomi couldn't get the vision of his fangs and the red dribble - like blood - out of her mind. Her rational self told her that he probably wasn't a vampire, especially since he ate fruit with such enjoyment, but for the romantic appeal of that picture - he might as well have been.

The group talked about the different plants in the greenhouse, but Hitomi couldn't focus on their conversation. Instead, she saw only Van. When she wasn't looking at him, she felt his eyes on her. But she had to push that idea out of her head. There was no way he could be interested in her. He was clearly and completely out of her league.

By the end of the meeting, Naria was working hard to recruit Van. She explained how Marlene, Eries and Millerna were witches and then she told him about her and Eriya's psychic powers. He didn't look at all surprised or doubtful of the truth of her words, but when she explained about Celena and Dilandau being Siamese twins, he gave a disgusted sigh.

"They're lying," he said scornfully.

"Beg your pardon," Celena said, popping her head around Millerna's back. "What did you just say?"

"You're lying," he said without apology, looking directly into her eyes.

Naria was a little confused at his hostility and shifted her position to back up Celena and Dilandau. "They have the scars from when they were separated. Do you want to see them? You're probably just thinking that Siamese twins have to be the same gender. I should warn you, one of them is cross-dressing. It's a game they like to play."

Van didn't look one iota impressed or deterred. "No. They are lying. Celena is a woman and that," he said, pointing to Dilandau, "Is male."

"Prove it," Eriya challenged.

Van gave her a funny look like he couldn't believe what she was suggesting.

"Without stripping them," she amended after an awkward moment passed. "Explain why you think they're lying."

Van took a deep breath and started to explain. "I admit that both Celena and Dilandau have a sort of unisex quality to them. Dilandau doesn't have facial hair and Celena isn't curvy, however there's a lot about them to prove they're not faking their genders." He lifted up his slender hands and started counting his reasons on his fingers. "If they were Siamese twins they would need to be identical. They're not. I know a lot of identical twins don't look exactly alike even though they're supposed to, but Celena and Dilandau have too many differences in their features. Dilandau's mouth is wider; his earlobes are detached while hers are attached. And most obvious of all – they have different eye colours."

"He's wearing contacts," Eriya countered.

"No, he isn't," Van contradicted. "His eyes are naturally red. Ask him to take out his contacts."

Everyone's attention switched to Dilandau. He was stretched out on one of the mats, flipping through a book of pictures.

A muscle around his mouth twitched. "I'll do it once he's finished. I want to hear the rest."

Van shrugged his shoulders and said, "You want me to go on? The rest might be too embarrassing."

"Yes," Dilandau said confidently. "Finish."

"Fine," Van said, continuing. "Celena can't be pretending to be a girl. She has to be a real one. She turned bright pink when I came in."

"What does _that_ prove?" Celena squeaked – blushing furiously.

"A guy pretending to be a girl would never be able to turn that colour. At least, his cheeks wouldn't. If you were a guy your ears would have turned pink while your face would have stayed white as a sheet. Like Dilandau here, who had a reaction to my entrance, but not like yours."

"Are you saying I'm attracted to you?" Celena flared.

"Are you saying you're not?"

She bit her lip. "Yeah."

"I realize I'm teasing you and you don't like it, but your sweet brother did ask me to continue. So, with that said, what about me is unattractive – besides the way I'm speaking right now?"

Celena's head drooped. "Nothing, I guess."

"Thanks," Van said nicely.

"And what was Dilandau's reaction to your entrance?" Naria asked, making sure she was still part of the conversation.

"He took one look at me and turned his back. He doesn't like me. It's just my hypothesis, but he seems to think I'm up to something."

"Are you?" Naria questioned, her eyebrows in the air.

"Not really. What you see is what you get. I came here to meet my cyber gal pal and have a look at her student group and that's about it."

"Are you going to join our club?" Millerna asked shyly, flicking her long blonde hair with her fingers.

The entire group perked up at Millerna's question and the challenge for Dilandau to take out his contact lenses was completely forgotten.

Van smiled at her and shook his head. "I can't. I'm the director of Safewalk. I can't join a club that meets every Friday night at midnight. I have work to do. I skipped out tonight and that's fine, but I can't miss work all the time."

"Ah, that's too bad," Millerna moaned, real disappointment flashing through her eyes.

"And I really should be ducking out now. I have to stop in the office later. Hitomi?" he asked turning towards her. "Can I walk you back to your dorms now, or were you planning to hang out here for awhile?"

"No. Please walk me. We haven't had much time to talk."

"That's true," Van agreed as he got to his feet. Then he spoke specifically to Naria, "Thanks so much for letting me visit and thanks for the pomegranate. It was delicious."

"Our pleasure," Naria said.

Hitomi picked up her jacket and followed Van.

"Hitomi!" Dilandau suddenly interrupted. "Are you really going to leave now? I was going to show you my photo album. Remember?"

Hitomi shifted her eyes around the room as if she was looking for a way out, or at the very least, a polite way to answer Dilandau. She wanted to go with Van and the sooner they left the more time she would have with him. However, it didn't matter how furiously she scanned her mind, no plausible answer was coming.

After she had stalled about ten seconds, Dilandau gave her a disgusted sigh. "Never mind," he said briskly. "If you change your mind and decide that you're interested in my pictures, come by the clubroom this week." Then he turned away from her.  
Hitomi felt awkward holding her coat and staring at Dilandau's contorted shoulder-blades, when Van abruptly took her coat from her and helped her put it on. He helped her with each arm and then he rested his hands briefly on her shoulders before he pulled away. Hitomi felt her heart race as Van stole her attention from Dilandau. She was breathless. She had never had a man help her with her coat before. No only that, but she could hardly remember the last time a guy had done anything to treat her with that kind of respect.

"Good night," Van said softly to the crowd before he reached out and pushed the glass door open. "After you," he whispered into Hitomi's ear.

She stepped through the door, but his balmy breath close to her ear was doing irrational things to her system. With his breath down the back of her neck she was so hot that she wanted to take her coat off, but she didn't dare remove it when he had put it on her so carefully. Hitomi felt like steam was rising from her skin.

Then they were alone in the dark hallway, with only the sound of their footfalls on the tile for company.

"It's kind of cold out. Do you mind if we stop by my locker to pick up my coat before we go outside?" he asked, suddenly sounding casual.

"It's no trouble," she said, her breathing uneven. She held her red rose and blankly touched the thorns protruding from the stem. Even though it was difficult for her, she managed to say, "Is this really you? Are you really the type to meet a girl on the internet, bring her a beautiful flower and help her with the door like a gentleman? Your post online made it sound like you were a bad guy who took advantage of women and hated himself because he couldn't help it."

Van grimaced and shook his head cynically. "I'm sorry. I expected tonight to go much differently. I expected you to be a different sort of person."

"Really? Who did you expect?"

He paused before he answered her. He seemed to be thinking very carefully. "Would it be all right if I told you the truth?"

Hitomi's mouth went completely dry, but she nodded and gave him an encouraging smile. "You can tell me anything."

"It's just that if I explain it to you … I don't know how you'll react. You might not believe me."

"Do I look like the sort of person who would have a hard time accepting something unconventional? You've just met my friends. Don't I look like the type of person who would accept you no matter what you said?"

Van smiled like he was thinking something ironic. "I guess you do, but what I'd confess really isn't in the same class as your friends' secrets. It's a little more unrealistic."

"And you think those guys are 'realistic'?" Hitomi smiled. She was trying to predict what he was going to say. It seemed too outrageous for him to just come right out and admit to being a vampire, but after being with those crazy people who thought they were witches, one soul separated by two bodies, and Siamese twins to boot, then maybe it wasn't that strange. Would he tell her his secret? But what about the pomegranate? Wasn't he a blood drinker?

"This is different," he said after a moment. "You might not believe me. You might think that this is an act I use with everyone I meet."

"You'll have to take a chance," she said, almost flirting. She wanted to encourage him to say it. She wouldn't be able to sleep that night if she didn't hear everything he had to say.

"All right, here goes," he said, sucking his breath in and making his chest puff out a bit. "Last Friday night," he began, "I posted my blog about meeting my angel – the post you responded to – it was about you. I have seen you around campus several times and I've always been … drawn to you, but I …"

Hitomi frowned deeply. "So, you think a relationship between the two of us would end in heartbreak and ruin?"

"Yeah. I was coming here tonight because I thought that Pearl Moon would be the kind of woman I could complain about my problems to and she would take my attention away from you."

"And you thought all this without even meeting me?" Hitomi asked, sceptical. She had been expecting something much different.

"Sounds crazy, doesn't it?"

"Sure does," she mumbled, trying to remember what he had written about his angel. She had been so mesmerized by her vampire that she hadn't given ReadyEyes' posts much thought until this second. "So, I look innocent?" she continued, once she remembered his exact impression of his angel.

"Extremely."

"A blank sheet of paper that you have no business writing on," she said, trying to quote his post.

"You read that carefully, huh?"

"I'm sure every girl who reads your blog reads it carefully."  
"Well," he said, touching her waist briefly and drawing her eyes to his eyes. "I need to amend what I said then. I don't think you're a blank piece of paper, but maybe more like a Spring – a new beginning that hasn't been trampled on or spoilt. A piece of paper sounds pitifully plain and you are far too lovely for that."

"You sound like you've thought about this a lot," she commented dryly. He was right, she wasn't convinced that this wasn't a line he gave to every girl he met.

"Maybe," he said running his fingers through his hair and leaving his hands behind his head as he walked.

Something triggered in Hitomi's brain just then and she suddenly understood. "This isn't a line you tell every girl, is it?"

"No."

"You're saying all this because you are trying to scare me away, aren't you?"

"Is it working?" he asked hopefully, dropping his hands and giving her the most charming smile.

"I did not _expect_ a romance out of you," she said forcefully, getting his attention. "I said I wanted to be friends on the internet. I don't believe your story about me being your angel. It's not true. You're just using it as excuse so you can pardon your way out of a romantic relationship you don't want because I'm not the sort of woman you expected. You're not attracted to me. Well, don't worry about it. You don't have a relationship with me. Just walk me home and get on with your life the way you were going to." She stomped down the hallway three steps before she blurted, "I hate these awkward moments when a guy I'm not even dating dumps me. Especially after getting me a rose and saying those nice things to me in the greenhouse. Where do you get off?" By this point, Hitomi was staring straight in front of her and she was getting more and more angry - angry enough to tell off a conceited jerk – no matter how handsome he was. "You know what? You don't have to bother walking me back to my dorm. I can manage quite well on my own. See ya!" Hitomi said as she dropped the rose on the tiling, turned around and started walking the way they had come.

"Where are you going?" Van asked, scooping up the rose and hurrying after her. "Aren't your dorms this way?"

"Yeah, but I'm going to go back and get Dilandau. He won't mind taking me back to my dorms, and when he spends time with me, he doesn't try to fill my head with crap."

Van caught her by the elbow. "Dilandau? Don't do that. Something is wrong with that guy. Didn't you hear me say that he has red eyes – naturally?"

Hitomi rolled her own eyes and tried to pull her arm away. "Yeah, well, he never took his contacts out, so you didn't prove that little theory."

"It's not a theory. Something is wrong with that guy."

Hitomi stopped resisting. "And you're perfect?"

Van held onto her arm and gave her a serious look.

She faltered. "Okay, fine. What's wrong with him?"

"He's … not what he seems to be."

"So, he _is_ a chick?"

"No, no, no," Van said, shaking his head. "I can't explain it."

"Well, could you please explain to me why you couldn't be civil enough to simply take me to my room without making sure that I knew there was no possibility I could be your girlfriend? Because I've got news for you – I already knew that. Probably every girl who looks at you simultaneously knows that she's not good enough for you."

"No! _You_ are the one who is too good for _me_!" he said, desperately seeking her eyes.

"Whoa," Hitomi laughed, still squirming away from his grasp. "Did that lame excuse actually come out of your mouth? I think _everyone_ knows what that line really means, so you might need to learn a new one for letting the girls down easy. That one doesn't really work anymore. Sorry."

He looked at the ceiling and he seemed to be frantically trying to find a solution. "I can't convince you?"

"No, but don't let that bother you. Since your object is to get away from me as quickly as possible, you shouldn't have any problem letting go of my arm and going to your office, or wherever the heck you were planning to go once you had dropped me off. I get the hint, so just let go already."

He took a deep breath. "I can't. I can't leave you to go back to Dilandau. You would be better off with me."

"Well, what if I don't want you to take me anymore? What if you've offended me so badly that I never want to hear from you again? Ever think of that?"

"Wait!" Van said. His face lighted up slightly. He looked like he had just discovered the answer he had been searching for. "You said in your post that you fell in love with a vampire. Was it him?"

_What!_

Now Hitomi was the one who was stuck, since she had written those posts about Van and not Dilandau. She took a deep breath to prepare herself for what she had to say. "No," she said, her voice sounded like she was under water.

"But you are attracted to dark things?"

"Yeah."

"Why?" he asked, and when she didn't answer him he went on. "You know if you keep walking down that road, you'll end up dark too."

"How is that any of your business and why do you care?"

"You are Spring and you want to make yourself Winter? Why?"

Hitomi fought his arm harder and when her voice came out, it was much louder than she expected. She was panicking. "Couldn't you tell from my posts?" she practically yelled. "You look at me and you see Spring. I look at myself, and I see that there's something missing."

"Missing?" Van yelled back. "What could be missing from the purest of beginnings?"

"Experience… Pain… Love… Joy… The white moon's body against the black velvet of a midnight sky – an ageless passion that would fill the void of loneliness I want to escape from. That's why I am interested in the dark side of life. I want a love that's agonizing in its sweetness, untameable, eternal," Hitomi belted out. Now she was saying things she didn't know she thought about – expressing opinions she didn't know she had. "I want a love that will not turn its back on me or change its mind about me. I want a love strong as blood and just as hot."

"Is that what your love for your vampire is really about?"

"Huh?"

"Who is that guy? You said you first saw him at school. Have you had the courage to introduce yourself to him when you like him so much, or are you choosing to live with unrequited love?"

"I met him," she claimed hotly.

"And?"

"He turned out to be a jerk," she accused without thinking. "It was really disappointing. He wasn't dark at all. I wish I could find a guy who would treat me properly. I want to be seen as a real woman with needs instead of an adorable kid who has to be sheltered, but what does that have to do with you?"

Van suddenly planted both feet right in front of her and put his face close to hers. His scent went straight through Hitomi's head like he had put a gun to her forehead and pulled the trigger. She couldn't think straight with his heady cologne infecting her senses. He was too close to her. What was he doing? He no longer looked like a pearly statue that was only crafted to look like a vampire. Now he appeared a demon from her dreams whose shadow covered everything. It was the flicker of violence in his eyes. It was the wetness of his bottom lip and the way he towered over her. Even though she wasn't cornered, she couldn't possibly escape.

"Choose me," Van said, finally sounding sincere.

"What?" she muttered, quite out of breath.

"If that's how you feel, then I want you. If you're just going to run out and let some monster like Dilandau ruin you, then I want you."

"Be real," she said, closing her eyes and trying to brush past him.

"I _am_ being real," he said, clasping her elbow.

Her shoulders fell. "Are you saying you want to be my boyfriend?"

"Sure. If that's how you want to classify the love you want, then sure, I'll be your boyfriend. I'll be whatever you want."

"Weren't you going to ruin me?"

"Better me than anybody else," he said persuasively.

"What if I don't want you?" she asked, a small part of her mind barring Van from convincing her. Her mind was unravelling like a scarf, but she still had one idea to hold onto. "What if I don't want anyone, except a vampire?"

He spun her around to face him. "It's true that I'm not a vampire, but I kiss like one."

He warned her, so she should have been ready, but absolutely nothing could have prepared her for his lips. The fragrance from before, the spicy blend of leather and Paris was gone and instead the taste of his saliva and the smell of his aftershave were like copper. Darkness enveloped her. It was as if her lips and nose had been lowered into a puddle of blood rather than been captured by the man she dreamt of during her restless nights. Her mind was flashing with images.

There was a man she loved and he laid bleeding and dying at her feet. Falling to her knees, she was embracing him – encompassing him with the greatest love she had ever felt. His face was hidden from her, but it didn't matter. She knew him by sense if not by sight. She was bending over him and kissing him for the last time as she had kissed him thousands of times. This was to be the last and her heart was overflowing with the intensity of the moment.

Her mouth felt full with blood and she was choking, like someone who chokes on tears. She swallowed and it felt like with each swallow she was safeguarding and sealing each one of their sacred memories.

Then she was kissing Van. He was the one who she crushed to her chest and ached to be near. The man from her vision was him, and nothing made sense except that she loved him and she wanted him. She tangled her fingers in his hair and drew him even closer, but the smell of blood was strong and she was finally feeling faint.

She slipped in his arms and half fell to the floor. Van cradled her in his arms and lowered her gently until she sat upright on the tile flooring.

"What happened?" she asked, putting her fingers to her face. It felt like there was blood dribbling down her chin and dripping from the tip of her nose.

"I kissed you," he explained.

Hitomi pulled her hand away, expecting to see her fingers stained with red, but they weren't – they were white. In fact, her face wasn't even wet.

"I …?" Hitomi began.

"Kissed me back," he finished for her. "You're a phenomenal kisser Hitomi. I think I even saw stars. And I thought you were going to resist me. Now you'll never be able to get rid of me."

"I don't want to get rid of you," she mumbled, still confused about what happened. She had been positive that she felt blood in her mouth. She felt around with her tongue, but she couldn't feel any cuts. She even put her fingers directly into her mouth and felt around and then pulled her hand out, but there was only her spit on her skin.

"What are you doing?" Van asked, laughing at her.

"I tasted blood in that kiss. Are you bleeding?"

He examined her with amusement. "No."

"Then…?"

"Just think of me as your vampire, if that's the only kind of man you'll take," he said as he put his arms around her and lifted her onto her feet. "I'll take you back to your dorms now, but I want to see you tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that."

* * *

Author's Notes: Special THANK YOU to joshthegray for beta reading. Thank you! It was greatly appreciated. I would also like to thank everyone who wrote reviews and everyone who writes a review this time. I love reviews. I know I don't respond much, but when I get a good review that makes my heart race - I always go and write some more and that's what everyone wants, right. Oh, and someone named Windy asked me to write them. I'm sorry that I couldn't - your email address didn't work. Thank you to everyone.

P.S. I really love this chapter. I think it turned out really well. I'm not usually this satisfied - tonight I feel great.


	6. Vampire Kiss

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne. Nope - not even a little bit. And I'm stealing the design for this campus. I know, I'm a brat, but this is fanfic, so I don't think anyone cares. Hey - did you guys know that whenever I read a book nine times out of ten I imagine the house I lived in until I was eight as the setting no matter how it's supposed to be dressed up?

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**Chapter Six**

**Vampire Kiss**

The next day was Saturday and Hitomi found herself in the Occult's Addict office. Hitomi wasn't sure who she was expecting to be hanging out, but there was only Dilandau sitting there. She was disappointed to see him at first because she had let him down the night before, but he was friendly and talkative and was encouraging when she wanted to talk to someone about her experience with Van the night before. It had been so strange that she wanted someone to explain what happened to her. Soon, she had told him the entire story.

"So, you think he's a vampire, even though he said that he wasn't?" Dilandau drawled as he flipped a plastic multicoloured slinky between his palms. His silky white hair curled away from his ears and his eyes glimmered crimson.

Hitomi thought for a second time what Van had said about Dilandau. Was it true that his eyes were naturally red? She didn't dare ask him. Instead, she continued to sit backwards on the swivel chair while Dilandau sat on a zebra striped stool opposite her.

"To be honest," Dilandau went on. "I really didn't envision you to be the type to kiss-and-tell."

Hitomi silently agreed with him. It was a little out of character. "Well, you're the one who suggested that I investigate campus vampires, and he seemed to be your prime suspect. I thought you might want to hear how it went."

"Was it me who suggested that? Are you sure it wasn't one of the girls? Like maybe Naria or my sister?"

Hitomi furrowed her brow, her mind lighting up at the memory of her discussion with the president. "Yeah, I guess it was Naria. Sorry then for boring you. I thought it was you who was interested in that sort of thing." Hitomi stood up from her chair when Dilandau put out a hand to stop her from leaving.

"But," he said nodding for her to sit down again. "If he says himself that he's not a vampire, then he's probably isn't. The simplest explanation is usually the correct one."

She shook her head. "I'm not convinced. I guess he must not be a vamp, but after that kiss – there must be something wrong with him."

"So, you're planning on dating him in order to uncover his ghastly secret? To think that you didn't try to date me to uncover the truth about my gender – how disappointing!"

Hitomi sat down again and hooked her toes behind the wheels of the chair to keep herself from spinning. She couldn't focus on Dilandau when he talked to her like that. "Does that mean you're acknowledging Van's theory about you and Celena?" Hitomi asked, remembering Van's assumption that they were pretending to be Siamese twins.

"Yes. Well, I was planning on coming out of the closet on Friday night whether Celena liked it or not. It's infuriating for the girl you like to be unsure of your intentions because of a joke, so I was going to call it off. It was rather unfortunate that he beat me to the punch, but I brought my photo album to show everyone pictures from when we were children in order to clear up any confusion."

"Really? Do you still have them in the office? Can I see them?"

"No. I was kind of put-out by the way Van revealed us. I'd just prefer the farce was over as quickly as possible now. So, there's no point in going over the little scene I had in mind. It's too bad that I couldn't pull the lid off the scandal the way I wanted. It was going to be cool."

"Is Celena okay?" Hitomi asked. She was a little worried that Celena's feelings had been hurt by the way Van spoke to her at the meeting in the greenhouse.

"She's fine. Don't worry about her. Sometimes she's so flighty; I doubt she even remembers how Van embarrassed her."

"I should go see her. Does she live in dorms?"

Dilandau didn't answer her question and instead asked, "Why do you have to go see her? It's not like she's sick, or like she failed a course that she was counting on, or anything. She's fine. If you go, you'll be making a big deal out of nothing. She wouldn't like to be pitied like that – especially from someone who was making out with Van in the hall five minutes after he insulted her."

Hitomi frowned. "You make it sound really perverted, but guess what? It wasn't. It was nice."

"Do I have to hear this?" Dilandau snarled as he tipped his stool backwards so he was leaning against the wall. "Hitomi, we're just starting to be friends. Do you really want to begin our friendship giving me a play-by-play of your sex life?"

She rolled her eyes angrily. "Whatever. I didn't tell you anything. I mention one PG rated experience and you're blowing it completely out of proportion. See if I ever tell you anything again," she said, sticking her tongue out at him and stepping out of the room.

"You're really dense," he called after her as she waited for the elevator.

Hitomi could tell what game he was playing. He wanted her to come back and tell him off, but she wasn't in the mood. She already felt stupid, because mentioning Van's kiss to him in her mind had been more of a search for knowledge than kiss-and-tell. She hadn't meant to rub it in Dilandau's face that she'd been kissed by Van. She wasn't as dense as Dilandau thought she was. She was just ignoring his feelings for her. It was obvious. He liked her. That was why he was coming out with the fact that he was a guy now. He didn't want to be rejected like the way he was the week before, when he asked her to dinner and she refused because she wasn't a hundred percent positive that he was a man. The thing was, now that she knew – she didn't care. He didn't seem like such a bad guy, but she wasn't interested in spite of his flirtatious comments and she didn't feel like anything could change her mind.

There was also one other thing. It was the most curious feeling, but she felt like Van was an once-in-a-lifetime chance, whereas Dilandau was hers for the asking, whenever she wanted. Whenever she felt this way, she wanted to give herself a kick. It was totally arrogant for her to assume that Dilandau would always be there if she wanted him. But – there it was.

With feelings like those, she couldn't go back to the club room to talk it out with Dilandau when she had already made her choice. She chose Van. He made her feel alive with delight. Since she felt that way, she could only hurt Dilandau and so she couldn't go back.

She waited for the elevator.

As the elevator dinged and opened, a familiar smiling face met her.

"Van!" Hitomi beamed. "What are you doing here?"

He casually brushed his hair out of his eyes. "Well, I was in the neighbourhood and I thought I'd stop by your clubroom to see if I could entice you into having lunch with me. Are you busy?"

"No. I'm totally free!"

Just then, the door to the club room slammed shut. Hitomi pretended not to hear it. Naturally, Dilandau was annoyed and if that was how he had to vent his feelings, then so be it.

Van inclined his head towards the closed door and pondered it. What was he thinking about?

"Don't mind him," Hitomi said quickly. "He's always this grouchy. Where should we go?"

Van grinned. "I've got the perfect place."

He took her to a pub on the top floor of one of the buildings. Once inside and seated, the view of campus was amazing. Hitomi sat next to the window and looked down on quad. The trees had already shed their leaves, since it was half way through October, but they had already been raked up, so the yellow grass shone with the slightest touch of silver.

Hitomi pointed to a spot on the lawn. "Hey, that was where I saw you take down that guy."

Van raised one eye brow artistically. "You saw that?"

"Yeah. It was the night I was up on the Science Building with my club observing the moon. What did he do anyway?"

"Nothing," Van shrugged.

"Not allowed to talk about it?"

"No, I am. I was already interviewed for the school paper about it. Don't worry. It's boring."

Just then, the waitress approached their table. "Can I get you anything to drink?" she asked Hitomi with a professional practiced smile.

"Um," Hitomi said opening the menu. "I don't know. What's good?"

Hitomi asked Van, but it was the waitress who answered. "We're a fully licensed bar, so we can make you anything."

"Water?"

"We don't make that, but I can bring you a glass," she said before she turned to Van. She gave him an odd look before she said, "I know what you want, but I still think it's weird."

"Yeah, I've heard the lecture before," Van said dryly.

"Are you ready to order or do you need a few minutes?"

Hitomi was scanning the menu frantically. Van hadn't even looked at it. She bet even the waitress knew what he was ordering. It sounded like he came here all the time.

"The beef dip," Hitomi ordered, looking at Van for approval.

"I don't know if it's good. I've never had it," he explained.

"It's good," the waitress confirmed. "But, you might not have much of an appetite after you see what he's eating. Oh well, at least it's fresh."

"Thanks," Van said to her as she disappeared into the kitchen. "She's got a smart mouth, but that's part of the fun of coming here. She bugs me, but she doesn't ask questions."

"Can I ask questions?" Hitomi blurted.

"Like what?"

"What are you ordering?"

"You really are hung up on the whole vampire thing, aren't you? What? Won't you like me if I order a hamburger and fries?"

Hitomi scowled. "It's not like that."

"Isn't it?"

She turned her head away and looked out the window instead. She didn't feel like being ridiculed for her dreams of vampires – especially not by the real live man that she had pinned to her closet door as her perfect idea of a vamp.

After a minute or so passed, Van said, "Sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I just think our relationship will be smoother if I'm free to eat what I like when we're together rather than trying to maintain an unnatural façade. I want to spend all my time with you, so I'd like to be able to eat normally."

Hitomi took a deep breath. "I wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary after you ate that pomegranate last night. It was just that the waitress made it sound like your order was unusual."

"It is," Van agreed. "I have a very sensitive palate. It took me forever to get the chef here to make me special orders, but he charges me an arm and a leg, so it works out."

"So, you're a picky eater?"

"Fanatical. Don't ever try to cook anything for me, because I guarantee I won't like it."

"What do you like?" she asked since she had no special feelings towards food. She liked everything.

"Almost nothing. I like how my brother prepares food, so I always make a special effort to go home for at least two hours each evening."

"You have a brother?"

"Yeah. I live in his building."

"In his 'building'? Don't you mean his house?"

Van smirked. "No. He owns an apartment building that he manages."

"Is it close to campus?" Hitomi asked when Van stopped talking. Hitomi expected him to say much more, but he kept answering in such short sentences.

"Pretty close," he said, looking at the ceiling.

"What about your parents? Do they live with you, too?"

"No."

"Do you have any other siblings?"

"No."

At this rate, Hitomi was going to have to start talking about herself, which was the last thing she wanted to do. Why wouldn't he say anything?

By this time, their food arrived. Hitomi was surprised when she saw Van's meal because it was merely a plate of chopped raw fish, served with a goblet of what almost looked like red wine, except the colour wasn't as rich.

"Bonappetit," the waitress said as she laid down their food and disappeared.

"Doesn't sushi usually come with rice and seaweed?" she questioned, looking at his plate contemplatively.

"Usually, except this isn't sushi," he said as he cracked his chop sticks. "It's sashimi – a Japanese delicacy. Like I said, it took me awhile to get the chef to prepare it the way I like it, but it was well worth the wait. He does a pretty good job."

Hitomi wasn't revolted by his meal, but she was surprised when he took his goblet and poured half its contents onto the fish. It looked thick and scarlet on the dead white fish flesh.

He laughed at her. "Trust me, it's good. Do you want to try it?"

She nodded, though she was positive that it wouldn't turn out to be one of her favourites. He picked one up and deposited it carefully into her open mouth. The flavour was not what she was expecting. She had been expecting some sort of alcoholic beverage, but instead what she thought was red wine was a cordial of some kind and it completely drowned out the flavour of the fish.

"What is that?" she asked when her mouth was clear.

"Cod."

"No. What's in that glass?"

"Are you sure you want to know?" he asked wickedly. "It's nothing to worry about. It wouldn't get you drunk no matter how much you drank of it. It's grenadine."

"Pomegranate juice?"

"Basically."

"I didn't think anyone drank that straight. Isn't it supposed to be an ingredient for other drinks?"

He scratched the back of his head. "Probably."

Hitomi peered at him curiously before she dunked her sandwich in the sauce.

"So, what about you?" he asked. "What about your family, your friends, your life?"

She shook her head slowly. "I …" she started, but then she paused and looked at his face.

He was even more attractive in the sunlight. His eyes had a slight upward slant to them that made them look more mysterious. Before she knew it, she was daydreaming about him and his past and his thoughts. There was something about him – something special. Maybe even compelling, drawing her in and making her want to throw her own stories away. Right now, she was here with him, and she wanted to invent herself all over again, just so that she could be the type of woman he wanted. Wasn't that what he envisioned about her? That she would change and become a wreck just because of his love? Maybe she didn't have to lose hope or lose herself in him. Maybe she could invent a new self. She was picturing one that drove him crazy with desire and longing. Perhaps she could become a woman with long legs, excellent taste in books, and a smile that was worth dying for. He would want to be with her all the time even just to play with her hair, or take her newspaper into the house for her.

Hitomi licked her lips and said, "I want to apologize for asking you all those questions about your brother and your life. It was rude of me since I don't want to reciprocate. There's nothing in my past life that I want to talk about with you. Can't we just pretend that I didn't exist before you started reading my blog?"

Van's chop sticks were half way to his mouth when she started speaking and with her words, he put them down and regarded her seriously. "That's the way I normally play things, so if that's the way you want it, then that's fine."

Hitomi breathed a sigh of relief.

"But I'm surprised," he said as he took a bite. He finished chewing before he went on, "I thought you'd want to hash over every detail of your life … and mine."

She smiled secretively, "I don't want to scare you."

Van laughed. "How could you scare me? Besides, it feels unnatural somehow to have such a finicky, polite conversation with you."

"Why?"

"Because I'm already tired of this whole 'lunch' scenario. I know couples should go on dates to see how compatible they are, but I just want to take you out of here and find out what your lips taste like … over and over again. Can we finish up here and go back to your dorm room?"

Hitomi's heart jumped and skipped and then took a nose dive. What about the poster on her closet door?

"Couldn't we go somewhere else? Like your place?" she stuttered.

"I can't wait that long," he said, his eyes burning with intensity. "In a second, it's going to be your side of the table."

"In public?" she gasped.

"Just once," he said, getting up from his side of the table and coming around to hers. He pulled her chair out and turned it slightly so that she faced him. Then he kneeled on the floor in front of her. Hitomi's cheeks burned heady scarlet. People were looking them. He looked like he was proposing marriage in a campus bar, but Van wasn't looking at them. His eyes were only for her as he pulled her closer to him and claimed her lips.

This time she felt his lips on hers before she entered into the dream-like state she had on their last kiss. This time there was no man there at all. She was sitting alone in a chair in a stone room. The sun was setting through the windows to the west and the yellow-gold light reflected deep emotion across the walls. On the stand beside her sat a goblet – a goblet filled with blood. Turning away from it, she knew what it was. It wasn't for her even though she had tasted it many times. It was her blood.

But then, she wasn't the same person. She was and she wasn't. There had never been a little girl and her teenager self was shed like a snake skin. Instead, she was a woman. She couldn't see herself, not even her hands, but she felt a difference in her the very essence of her. Her mind wasn't focussed on trivial things. She tried to think about the layout of her blog. She had cared about it once, but she couldn't feel anything.

Spring had gone for her and with it so many things that youth treasure had passed her by. Summer was gone too, only her Autumn remained. And Autumn was gorgeous – deep shades of orange and blue. Her breath felt crisp in her throat and with a jerk. All at once she knew what she wanted to be – Autumn.

Suddenly, she came to a realization of where she was – back in the campus pub. Van wasn't kissing her, but to Hitomi's horror, he was lying flat on his back between their table and the table next to them.

"What are you doing? Get up!" she hissed to him as quietly as she could, even though everyone was glaring at them.

Van smirked. He put his hands behind his head and said evenly, "It would have been a lot less embarrassing if you hadn't thrown me off."

"What?" she gasped.

"What? Don't you remember?"

She scratched her temple, to hide her feelings of unrest. "No. Not at all."

Van immediately changed his posture and picked himself off the floor. Standing straight up he said, "Do you want to go right now?"

"Yes," she whispered, still half covering her face.

Van reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He put the necessary bills on the table, put his arm around her and ushered her towards the door. "We won't come back here for awhile."

"Thank you," she mumbled.

Once they were alone and safe inside the elevator, Hitomi felt free to talk to him. "I'm sorry. I black out or something when you kiss me. It's pretty embarrassing, but I don't think I can keep it a secret if ..."

"Kiss me again," he breathed, gently pushing her into the corner. "If you pass out, I'll take you back to your dormitory."

"No, Van!" she said, putting her hand between their lips. "I want to talk for a minute."

"Talk? When there's pleasure like this to be had?" His lips were finding the side of her neck.

She pushed him off and met his eyes sternly. "Why do you have this effect on me?"

Van backed away from her and leaned against the wall opposite her. He crossed his arms across his chest and looked vexed. "And why, little girl, do you have this effect on me?"

"What effect?"

"I want you more than I've ever wanted anyone in my life before. I feel like if I can't have you in my arms, they'll break. Don't turn me down."

The elevator opened and Hitomi pushed past him. "I need to think … and I need answers. "I'll see you later."

He rushed after her and grabbed her elbow. "Don't go."

The sound of his voice made Hitomi's bones melt. She was on the verge of giving in when she glanced up and saw his face. She thought before that she had imagined his sharp teeth. No, she hadn't. He was almost panting, and his two incisors were so long now that they were resting on his bottom lip.

"We can't talk right now," she claimed, forcing herself to be assertive. "Your bloodlust is too strong for you to handle."

Van's eyes gazed back at her in horror and his mouth hung partly open. His fingers relaxed and his arm fell to his side. Hitomi stared at him with deliberation. Finally, he tucked his razor-like teeth behind his bottom lip. He turned around and walked away.

As Hitomi watched his retreating back, she let out her cleansing breath and told herself that she was safe now.

Van turned around and said just four words to her, "I'm not a vampire." He even managed to say them like he believed them, but the thing was, Hitomi wasn't sure she could.

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Author's Notes: No beta reader this time. But thank you to everyone who reviewed. I meant to write back to more people than I did. It's just that something was wrong with my computer (it's my power adapter) and things keep on getting lost when I have power issues. I'm sorry. Anyway, love is all around the world. Please review, because I love reviews and they make me feel like writing. Cheers!

**As an extra P.S. posted a few days after I originally posted this - I've started a new forum for this story. You can view it through my profile. It's called 'Shivering Wings'. It's going to be my official Escaflowne forum eventually. Please go check it out.**


	7. Fleshing Her Out

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne. Heaven knows I wish I did.

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**Chapter Seven**

**Fleshing her Out**

Hitomi went back to her dorm room in a stir of confusion. No matter what Van said, those protruding teeth could not be ignored. Was he a vampire? He kept insisting that he wasn't, but if that was true, why did he back off so abruptly when she accused him of suffering from bloodlust? Was it possible that there was some truth in what she said if he didn't laugh at her? Instead, it really felt like he took her seriously.

She sat down at her desk and was about to open her laptop, when something caught her eye. There was a mirror stuck to the wall beside her desk and from the angle of her chair, she could see herself perfectly. The mirror itself was tinted slightly pink and the frame made of a shiny metal to match. Then there was her face in the middle. To her, she looked like a little kid. Was she really the kind of woman Van wanted to bite?

Well, whether he was a vampire or not, she put him out of her mind. At least, she tried, but she kept thinking that he had suggested more than once that they head back to her dorm room. What would they be doing in here right now if she hadn't panicked and sent him away? She looked around at the mess on the floor. Yeah, he was going to be impressed by that. Her poster wasn't the only reason she didn't want him in here.

Hitomi stretched her limbs and started to tidy up her room. She changed the sheets and made the bed and got a load of laundry ready to go. Then she emptied her entire closet and went through every piece of junk she had thrown in there in the past month and a half. She was looking at her clothes, knickknacks, plushies, posters (besides the one of Van) and everything else she owned. Soon, she was sitting in the middle of a donut made of girlish trinkets; fuzzy picture frames, colourful hair accessories, T-shirts with gaudy mascots on them – the list went on. This was why she was a Spring. She still liked wall hangings of pink and purple butterflies.

From the looks of things, there was a part of her that still hadn't grown up yet. And what was the rush? There hadn't been a reason to hurry the process … until she met Van.

Dissatisfaction flooded her as she recalled her last vision when Van kissed her. She pressed her fingers to her lips as she remembered. It had been a vision of womanhood she hadn't known existed. Her mother certainly hadn't been like that. Hitomi sat there and tried to envision what kinds of clothes the woman in her mind wore. Black certainly, but what else? Rich browns, orange, gold, and only white in touches. What style? Hitomi thought of long fitted skirts, lovely woven sweaters, and the highest of high heeled boots. Hardly anything in her closet fit her image of what she wanted to become.

She looked at her wardrobe, strewn across the floor, and before she knew it, she had changed her mind about doing laundry. There was no point in washing clothes or bedding she was going to throw away.

Before she gathered everything up in garbage bags, she decided to get online and check her bank account. She didn't know how much it would cost to outfit herself the way she wanted, but even if she wore the same outfit ten times a month, she couldn't risk meeting Van while wearing a black T-shirt with sparkly monkey on it again, which was unfortunately what she worn that day.

Her bank account wasn't excellent, but there was a little leeway in her budget and so she'd have to make the most of it.

She was about to close her laptop when it occurred to her to check her blog and Van's. Van still hadn't posted anything new and there were no new comments on her last entry either. As a last resort, she checked her email. No new message from Van. However, she had his email address now and so she decided to write him a note.

"Hey Van," she typed. "Sorry about today. I would like to try again if you still want me." She wrote these words hesitantly because she couldn't help it. She had never had a relationship with a guy who acted like he couldn't keep his hands off her. Since he was so passionate, he couldn't have cooled since lunch, could he? He'd still want her, right? "I'll get in touch with you when I'm ready to see you. I need some time to get ready for you. Until then, please don't mind me. We can still email each other until then, okay? Love, Hitomi."

Hitomi pressed the 'send' button and then went back to her cleaning. She didn't throw her things away yet, but left them in garbage bags by the door. She'd throw them away if her shopping was successful. Then she went to take a shower.

When she was finished, she came back to her room and found a pair of pants and a shirt that she felt comfortable wearing, considering her new image. It was a pair of black polyester trousers and a cream coloured turtle-neck sweater. She only put on mascara and eye liner, because she had put the rest of her makeup in one of the bags she planned to throw away. She decided she wasn't going to wear glitter on her face anymore, and when she realized how much of her makeup consisted of sparkly, shiny stuff, she was appalled. Exactly how much money did all that make-up represent?

Hitomi did one last thing before she left her room to go shopping. She checked her email.

It was amazing, but there was a message from Van.

"Hi Tomi," he started. "If you're sitting in your dorm room sharpening wooden stakes, please remember that a normal person would probably die if you jabbed one through their heart. As for the rest, do whatever you need to do. Call for a walk when you're ready. I'll be waiting." He signed it simply, "Van."

Hitomi thought of writing him back right away, but changed her mind after she had opening the window. She didn't have anything to say to him yet; at least, not until she became the woman who was good enough for him to bite.

Closing her laptop, she left her dorm to go catch a bus.

Hitomi's shopping excursion started at a strip of boutiques. They looked so cute from the bus window, but after popping into a few of them, she realized that she was going to be bankrupt if she tried to fill her entire wardrobe with new items from a fashionable street. But she kept on walking and looking at price tags until she found herself at a second-hand clothing store. Because of her own feelings about used clothing, she had never spent much time pawing through a thrift store. But now, she felt like her squeamishness was childish. Maybe something with a little history was just what she needed.

After sorting through a few racks, she found a few skirts and cardigans that she didn't think were that bad. This particular thrift store had an abundance of evening gowns and so Hitomi took a gander through them. Surprisingly, she spotted three dresses that were all worth trying on, and in her size. Two of them were black and the last one was burgundy with deep coloured raspberries embroidered across the hem and the neckline.

She didn't even have to look in the mirror when she tried the first black one. It was obviously a no-go. The next black one turned out to be a shirt/skirt combination and not a dress at all. It was more expensive than the other two put together. It was floor-length and the top was like a corset with capped sleeves attached to it.

Hitomi groaned.

She clearly had to buy it once she saw herself in the full-body mirror on the back of the dressing room door.

"I was going to buy that," one of the sales' girls told her. "But my ass isn't as narrow as yours."

"The skirt is dragging on the floor," Hitomi pointed out.

"No problem," the girl continued. "Wear a pair of heels and you're honeymooning. You won't even have to hem it. It's an amazing find. Right now, everyone is looking for Halloween costumes so a few girls have had that dress on too, but it didn't fit them either. You're so tall and thin and it's such a weird size." With that, the girl plopped a pointed witch's hat on Hitomi's head.

"I'll buy it," Hitomi blurted.

"Of course you will," she replied, heading back towards the sales counter to help someone else.

Hitomi tried on the skirts and cardigans before she tried on the last evening gown. She sorted through the items she wanted and the ones she planned to leave behind. She hadn't been impressed with the tops she's seen, so she thought she's take the bus to the mall after she finished. Plus, she wanted new accessories, shoes and perfume.

The last evening gown was more like a cocktail dress with a knee-length skirt. It didn't look half bad on her, and the price was so good that Hitomi couldn't resist. When she was at the counter, the sales' girl ran the witch's hat through with her other purchases. Hitomi hadn't planned to buy it, but she decided not to resist. After all, she might need a Halloween costume.

By the time she left the thrift store, she had spent almost a third of the money she had allotted for the trip, but she was happy. Things had already worked out so well, because nothing suited her purposes as much as the dresses she'd bought.

Hitomi caught the bus and went to the closest mall to campus. She had been there the week she had moved into dorms. Her parents took her as a sort of 'sight-seeing' while they were in town.

Hitomi hopped around from shop to shop. She got a collection of stretchy black and brown tops, a pair of tweed trousers, a fluffy gold scarf and mittens to match, new stockings, and a few other impulse purchases that she couldn't resist.

The only thing that caused Hitomi considerable pain was when she went to buy shoes. She had to buy at least three pairs of new shoes. She needed boots, she needed heels and she needed everyday shoes. All together, they were so expensive they hurt her feelings.

Once she was done all that, she went on her impossible search – to find a perfume that smelled like pomegranates.

The woman at the department store said, "There's Euphoria by Calvin Klein."

Hitomi looked at the price and almost choked. She was clearly in the wrong store. Her budget was almost completely gone after the shoes, and she still wanted to go buy some make-up. But she asked to smell it anyway. It was so familiar.

"Can I smell the men's cologne, please?"

"Certainly," the lady said with a smile. She sprayed some on a card and handed it to Hitomi.

One breath of that and Hitomi looked at the sales' woman and said, "I'd like to get it, but unfortunately, that's the cologne my boyfriend wears."

"He has excellent taste," she smiled.

"Of course he does," Hitomi agreed dryly before she headed out of the store.

In the end she forgot about the perfume. She ditched it and focused on the make-up instead. She bought the whitest shade of foundation she had ever been able to find, an eye shadow that had black, grey, and raspberry together, and a new lipstick.

Now, she was completely out of cash. She didn't even have enough money left to buy herself a pop. She had to get back to her dorms so she could get a drink and bill it to her meal card.

She was exhausted as she took a seat on the bus on the way home. She thought she might pass out when she remembered she only ate half her sandwich at lunch before she and Van left the pub. She was starving, too. Great.

When she got back to her dorm, she ditched her bags in her room and went straight to the cafeteria.

She sat down to her Hawaiian pizza and Minute Maid and said, "That was a job well done." Then she ate and spent the rest of her evening going through her garbage bags again, picking out the bedding she was going to pitch, doing laundry and watching Korean dramas on her laptop.

* * *

The next Friday night, Hitomi was putting on her coat and bemoaning that she hadn't bought a new one. She wanted to go back to the thrift store to see if she could find something passable, but she couldn't justify the expense no matter how she looked at it. In the end, she layered two sweaters and put on her gold mittens and scarf. It wasn't the darkest part of winter yet, so she decided she probably wouldn't freeze to death.

Hitomi left to go to the Occult's Addict meeting; same day, same time – Friday night at midnight. They met in one of the campus libraries and sat at a long table beside the reference material.

At the meeting, Dilandau was his usual moody self as he gave a lecture on crop circles. He stood at the end of the table and showed a variety of different designs on a white wall of the library with a projector. He talked about locations where they've been seen – highlighted one that looked like Hello Kitty – and a number of reasons why people may have done it throughout the decades.

He wrapped up his lecture, saying, "In the summer, I think we should make our own. I read about how amateurs can do it if they use a garden roller or wooden planks to flatten the corn. Are you girls feeling buff? I hear it takes a lot of muscle," he said with a wry smile.

"We're always buff," Eriya waved, showing off her bicep.

"I know. I know. Then we'll leave it to Hitomi to call the newspapers and stuff to let them know that there's a new crop circle. She's the only one of us that doesn't look like a crackpot. They'll definitely believe her."

Hitomi frowned. She hadn't liked the way he worded his lecture. It was almost like he had prepared the entire thing to make her interest in them look ridiculous. She was sitting in her chair almost trembling from humilation.

"So, you really don't think that aliens made them?" she asked, using up every ounce of her concentration to speak rationally rather than to cross the room and slap his face. She couldn't believe he was such a poor loser.

He stopped his reading and looked up. "I'm critical of everything. Haven't you figured that out by now?"

"But, everything you've said makes it sound like you won't even consider the evidence that it could be the work of something that's not human. Aren't you supposed to give a presentation that looks at the subject from every angle?"

He didn't answer her, but the expression on his face seemed to say, "The simplest answer is usually the correct one."

Celena stepped in and spoke up for him. "Dilandau's specialty is conspiracy theories. He likes to present them and explain how they're right. He's even suggested a couple on the internet that are quite popular. So, don't mind him. He doesn't even believe in the moon landing."

"So," Hitomi said, turning to him. "What's something unusual that you _do_ believe in?"

Dilandau frowned deeply. Celena was about to answer for him when he put his hand up to stop her. "I believe in an afterlife."

Hitomi didn't know what she expected him to say, but that certainly wasn't it. She was hoping for something more outrageous. His answer was positively tame. He was still making fun of her. She gulped in utter aggravation, turned around and started gathering her things together.

"What? Are you leaving?" Dilandau asked.

"Yeah. I'm leaving."

He left his perch at the head of the table and came over to Hitomi's seat. "What's the problem? Why are you so mad? You said you were interested in crop circles and so I researched it for you. I was trying to be nice to you, so why does that make me the bad guy?"

"'Trying to be nice'?" she gawked, putting her arm through the sleeve of her first sweater. "I wanted to hear a lecture that was trying to prove that crop circles were really done by aliens. Isn't that more interesting? I didn't say I was going to believe it. I wanted to hear the argument. And you …" she said, throwing her other sweater over her shoulders, "don't want anyone to believe anything you don't believe yourself."

Dilandau stared at her with hard red eyes. "I guess that's true," he said slowly.

Hitomi glared at him slightly and grabbed her bag.

"Wait. You haven't even eaten and the witches brought something really good tonight," he urged quietly.

"I'm not hungry."

"You're being a baby."

Hitomi fumed, "And _that's_ going to make me stay?" She turned away from him and shouted to Naria, "What's the meeting next week?"

Naria turned towards her and closed the distance so that she wasn't also shouting across the library. She didn't actually say that Hitomi's manners were bad, but the tone she used when she spoke next said it for her. "Dilandau and Celena are sharing their story of how they got their scars. You know, the ones that helped convince us that they were really Siamese twins."

Hitomi nodded.

"Will you come?" Dilandau asked soberly.

She hesitated. "I'll think about it." Then she stepped away from him.

"Look," he said, grabbing her elbow. "I wasn't trying to piss you off. I presented the information in the way that was the most natural for me. You didn't like it and I'm sorry, but don't stay away from the meeting next week just because we have differing views."

She looked at him like she didn't believe him.

He continued, "I'll be on my best behaviour. I promise. Besides, it's our activity that's closest to Halloween. You don't know how hard it was to convince Naria to give me the meeting. She was planning on a séance or something like that. Please come," he pleaded.

Hitomi wanted to blow him off, but there was a desperate quality to his voice that she couldn't ignore.

"I'll come," she agreed. "Are we dressing up?"

"I don't know. I don't think the witches ever look normal and Celena has been talking about dying her hair grey. I don't know. Wear whatever you want." He paused for a moment, as though he was considering Hitomi's current outfit. "You look lovely."

Hitomi smiled and pulled her arm out of his reach. "Thanks. See? That's a nice thing to say. You should work on saying stuff like that to girls instead of trying to prove how much smarter than them you are. See you later," she said as she headed towards the exit.

She noticed that there was a red Safewalk phone at the front of the building. When she got to the entrance she picked up the receiver and called for a walk back to her dormitory. For a second, it didn't sound like Van was going to be the one coming, but when the operator took her name she heard Van in the background insisting on taking the walk even though it wasn't his turn.

Hitomi blushed deeply as she replaced the receiver. He hadn't forgotten about her. Thank goodness!

A few minutes later she saw Van and Merle coming across the lawn. Hitomi's breath caught as she recognized his dark head and his striking features. Somehow, even though she had his picture up in her room, seeing him in person always dazzled her. It was the simple things about him that were amazing; the angles of his legs as he walked, the way he held his head, and perhaps the greatest thing about him – a kind of mystery in his eyes. Like there was so much more to him than he shows. There had to be mountains of thoughts and emotions behind his eyes that he'd never shared with anyone. Even to see a glimpse of what he hid, how high would the price be?

"Hi," Merle said in a lazy tone as she cranked the door open. "Let's get a move on."

Van smiled at her and put his put out his arm, so that she could walk with her arm linked with his.

"Is this professional?" Hitomi asked as she fell into step with him.

"And if it isn't?"

Hitomi smiled, but couldn't meet his eyes for a moment. She was steaming with the pleasure of walking side-by-side with him.

This time Merle headed out first and let Van and Hitomi linger behind her. She even had the good sense not to turn around to check on them. She just walked on steadily, trusting Van not to let her get too far ahead of them.

When Hitomi felt comfortable, she turned to have a look at Van. Apparently, his winter coat had just come out of storage because it wasn't the same as before. This one was khaki grey with a fur collar. His dark hair curled into the edges of it by his ears and lit up Hitomi's imagination. That was how she always felt around Van – on fire.

He licked his lips. "I'm glad you called. I've been watching for you around campus. Before we hooked up, I used to see you everywhere – not anymore. Where have you been?"

"I've been around," she answered, trying to sound casual. "I just needed to get my ducks in a row. So, I sorted some things out. Do I seem any different to you?"

"Different?" He sighed, "I haven't even begun to discover you. We need more time together. When can I see you next? I need to learn everything."

Hitomi's fingers curled into fists to stop herself from trembling. For a moment, she couldn't even answer, and then when she looked up, they were already there. Van held the door open for her.

Merle leaned against the handrail and warned, "Just like we agreed, you can walk her to her room, but don't take more than ten minutes. I won't wait longer than that and it would look really bad if I went back alone."

"I won't leave you hanging," Van said as he put his arm around Hitomi's waist and headed up the stairs with her. Once they passed through the double doors at the top of the stairway, Van leaned towards Hitomi and whispered in her ear, "So, what ducks have you been organizing? Don't tell me you're still trying to figure out a way to prove that I'm a vampire?"

"I haven't been hurting myself over it," she answered, her voice carrying a slight chill. "Not everything is about you. It's me that I've been thinking about. I've been giving myself a teensy bit of a makeover, so I've been spending some time at the mall."

"A makeover? Is that all? You had me really worried."

"Well, it was nothing. I just needed a little time to take care of myself and work my identity out."

"By shopping?" he exclaimed.

"Well, it might seem frivolous to you, but just wait. You'll be grateful. I got a killer dress. Do you want to see it?"

"Maybe later," he said languidly, his breath still lingering around her ear. "Didn't you hear Merle? I have to be back downstairs in less than ten minutes? But, you still didn't answer my question. Do you still think I'm a vampire?"

Hitomi breathed deeply. "I know you keep saying that you're not, but those fangs of yours speak differently."

Van laughed.

"All the same, I'm unconvinced. You're too perfect to be human."

His smile faded and for a moment he looked thoughtful. He bent down and whispered, "I have to tell you something." Suddenly, his arms came around her and he slammed her against the wall. Looking directly into her eyes with his blood-stone coloured ones he said, "Listen carefully, because I'm about to speak very seriously." He held her gaze as though to let the severity of his words sink in before he continued. "Please give up your vampire fixation. I think there's one prowling around on campus, and I don't want you to get hurt, so promise me you won't go looking for it and if you need to go somewhere after dark that you'll call for a safewalk."

Hitomi stared at him with intrigued eyes. "And what if I want to meet the vampire?" She wasn't sure if she meant what she said. The only thing she knew was that she wanted to hear Van's response to the request.

"Mercy! Don't go looking for it!" he hissed empathically, his eyes full of fury. "You wouldn't be able to handle it and regardless of your interest in the occult. It doesn't follow the rules you're familiar with. It would murder you."

"There haven't been any murders on campus lately," Hitomi said defiantly.

"Yeah, no murders," Van agreed and the way he said it suggested that he was the reason why no one had been killed.

"All right," Hitomi said weakly. "I'll stay indoors, but on one condition."

"Name it."

"You'll come back tonight after you're finished with work and tell me about vampires – the real ones."

"Done. I'll see you later." He let her go and headed down the hall to the stairs.

Hitomi leaned against the wall and let out a satisfied sigh. She was finally going to learn the truth about vampires and hopefully, Van's exact connection with them. She crossed her fingers happily before getting out her keys and unlocking her door.

This was going to be a night she would never forget.

* * *

Author's Notes: Thank you to everyone who came to read and review. I really appreciate comments. I started a forum for my Escaflowne stories called 'Shivering Wings'. It's available through my profile 'forums' if anyone is interested. There's a topic for the first seven chapters of 'Vampire Kiss', so please come visit.

I didn't have a beta reader, so I expect there are some mistakes. My last one left me, but has promised to return at some point. So, thank you to everyone who is supporting me during this story. Thank you! Love is all around the world.


	8. Prince of Curses

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne, but I really love writing.

* * *

**Chapter Eight**

**Prince of Curses**

Van's face disappeared in front of Hitomi's eyes as she slid her closet door open. He slid in neatly between the two doors. This way her poster of Van laid undiscovered behind the blank door and no one was the wiser – especially not Van whom she was expecting at any second.

She wanted to do something special since this was his first night visiting her room. She thought of changing into something prettier, but that seemed like going overboard. Then she considered ordering food, but he had warned her not to try to cook for him, he hated everything. So, she carefully selected the CD to play and got a couple of chocolate bars out of the vending machine. Surely he liked chocolate.

It was three-thirty when Van's gentle tap roused her. She hadn't been sleeping. She was watching the end of one of the dramas she had started the week before.

Hitomi shut her laptop and flicked on her CD before answering the door.

"It's me," she heard Van whisper.

She unlocked the door and invited him in. "This is my place, welcome."

Looking around the room, Hitomi felt confident that she was no longer embarrassed to have him in her room. There was nothing there to be ashamed of. Any man could look at the place and not feel like he had just entered the land of the elves. Her bedspread was merely her white duvet without a cover on it. Her pillowcases and the rug in front of her bed were still purple, but now appeared tasteful because they weren't augmented by stuffed animals. And the only picture that was left on the wall was a monstrous poster of a red moon with a white feather in front of it.

"I'm glad you're still awake," Van said as he entered the room. "That's lucky. I thought you would have passed out by now. What time is it?"

Hitomi took his coat from him and laid it on the floor by the door. "Three-thirty. Is last call at the bars really not until three a.m.?"

"No. It's at two. I apologize, but I had a little fight with Merle. She didn't want me to come here and settling her down took some time. We normally close up shop at three. Plus, she was a little afraid to go home alone."

"Do you normally see her home?" Hitomi asked, without the slightest hint of jealousy.

Van nodded. "Yeah."

"So, tonight you let her go home alone? She doesn't live on campus, does she?"

"Don't look so horrified. Like I would do that. I called her father and asked him to come get her."

Hitomi smiled. "Then she's taken care of."

"Yeah," Van said, rolling his eyes. "Taken care of."

"What do you mean by that?"

Van shrugged. "It's nothing. She's just not particularly fond of her dad, even though he's the type that will come to pick her up at three-thirty in the morning without a qualm."

"She's lucky to have such a cool-headed father. My parents would come get me, but I'd get an earful. I guess since she's working at Safewalk and not out clubbing he wouldn't be mad. So, he's normal, right?"

"I don't know," Van said, shaking his head.

"Wouldn't your parents back you up?" Hitomi pressed.

He sat down on the floor and leaned against the wall. "No. I didn't grow up with the crayon drawing of a mom and a dad and a house and a dog." His voice trailed off and he began examining the room more carefully.

Hitomi sat down on the bed and waited for him to elaborate. She knew he didn't want to talk about his past, but if he volunteered anything then she wouldn't be the one to discourage him.

Finally, he turned his eyes toward hers and said, "I like your room. It's pleasant. And what are we listening to? It's mellow. Is it German?"

She smiled. "It's Wolfsheim."

Van stretched out his legs and changed the topic. "Well, I have to keep my end of the bargain if I expect you to keep your promise to stay out of trouble. Vampires," he said in a melodramatic tone and then he suddenly stopped.

Hitomi arched her eyebrow. "I really don't need all this bravo."

He laughed, "All right. I couldn't help myself. After all, a little dramatic flare never hurt anyone, right? Anyway, there are lots of cursed humans in this world. Vampires are one of the lowest, so because there are more of them, it's not completely unlikely that you could meet one."

"You said they followed different rules. Care to explain?"

"Sunlight doesn't hurt them, but they would never be seen in the light of day."

"Why?"

"They're dead. Their flesh is as cold and dead as the fish you watched me eat. They are not beautiful or sexy. They are foul, loathsome creatures that feed off human blood to keep themselves animated. If they stop – they will fall off that precipice of life and death and that'll be the end. That's their curse."

"But they're fast, right? And strong?"

"No. They are ordinary people that are dead. Their limbs hang on by mere threads. They move in the darkest parts of night so their victims don't notice that they are off-balance; that they're not normal."

Hitomi felt a chill come over her. She half expected what he said to sound like a joke, but the way he said everything, his seriousness overpowered her. He meant what he said.

He continued. "The most beautiful thing about them is their voices. They sound lovely – beguiling."

"You saw one on campus?"

"From a distance. He was at the bar a couple nights ago. I don't think he knew me, but those monsters have incredible noses for danger. He bugged out, but he probably had no idea why he had to leave. I've sensed him around a time or two since then, but he won't come into the dorms. There are way too many cameras and lights that are on twenty-four hours a day. You have nothing to worry about here."

"What was he like?"

"Mostly bald, with a few braids in the back," Van said reflectively. "His eyes were so lifeless, almost like he had no soul. But he has one. I know he does. It may be mutilated with age and spilt blood, but it's there."

Hitomi waited for him to finish, but Van stared at her computer desk with his jaw clenched. When it seemed like he wasn't going to go on, she got up the courage to ask her next question. "What were his fangs like?"

"Blunt. Vampires don't have fangs. They have teeth just like yours. Like I said, they're human beings. The only special thing about them is the curse that keeps them animated even though they're dead. They don't even have the power to turn someone else into a vampire. All they do is murder."

"And what do you have to do with it?"

Van snorted. "Honestly – nothing. If it recognized me, it would run, and if I got my hands on it – I would kill it."

Hitomi suddenly made a sickening connection. The comparison he made to a vampire's flesh and the fish he ate at the pub. She swallowed a hard lump in her throat. "You don't eat vampires, do you?"

He raised his eyebrows like he was thinking about it and then he smiled; his lips spread enough for Hitomi to see his razor sharp incisors. His expression was a snarl. "I don't think so," he said heartlessly. "However, the idea isn't without its charm. In fact, it makes my mouth water." He swallowed.

The chill that had begun spreading across Hitomi's body curled its way down her legs and arms now. She was breaking out in goose bumps. She told herself she was merely cold and picked up a pillow off her bed and cuddled it in her arms.

"What are you?" she whispered.

He licked his bottom lip and grinned. "I'm not like them."

"Are you a vampire hunter then, since you want to kill them?"

"You misunderstand me. I don't want to kill them – especially. Let me see if I can come up with a good comparison. Hmm … I got one. If a mosquito landed on your arm, what would be your reaction?"

"I would kill it," she said slowly, trying to understand his logic.

"Yet, even though you would kill it if it landed on you, you aren't a mosquito hunter. See?"

"I think so."

"They're just disgusting. That's all."

Hitomi took a deep breath. "So, why do you have fangs?"

Van chuckled and for a moment, Hitomi thought he looked smug. "Ah, but that wasn't part of our bargain. I promised that I would tell you about vampires, not that I would tell you about myself. Besides, I thought we covered all that. You don't want to tell me about yourself, so you acted like it was all right if I didn't either. Remember?"

Hitomi recalled their conversation in the pub. "I guess so," she mumbled. "Regardless," she continued, her enthusiasm picking up. "I still want to unravel your mysteries."

He nodded. "I feel that way about you, too. You have your secrets. As a matter of fact, I think I have revealed a lot more about myself than you have. Sly little devil, aren't you? Tricking me like that!"

"I'm not sly. I apologize. I know it's probably more fun if I play a little hard to get, but I want the playing field between us to be fair, so you can ask me any question you want and I'll answer it the best way I can."

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Van asked, surprised. "I always feel more comfortable in a relationship when I'm at a disadvantage. It makes me feel like a gentleman … if such a thing were possible."

"No. I'm fine with it. Ask me anything you want."

Van rested his chin on his knuckles and peered into her face as he formulated the perfect question. His eyes moved contemplatively from the gravity of her eyes down her throat and down the length of her arm. He seemed to be lost in the labyrinth of his own mind and even though she was the subject of his reverie, she had no idea what he was considering. Not to mention how uncomfortable she felt with him looking her over so carefully. It wasn't like there was anything much to see. Even though she felt like she had seen the door to womanhood, she knew she still hadn't crossed the threshold, so there wasn't anything there for him to explore. He was right about her. She really was a blank sheet of paper.

She sighed.

Van's eyes snapped up to hers as though he suddenly remembered what he was supposed to be doing. "There's only one question. I wanted to come up with a different one, but there is only one question I would ever want to ask you. Why are you so innocent?"

Heat flooded Hitomi's face and she threw her hands in the air. "I don't know what you're talking about. I don't see how I could be so much more innocent than your next eighteen-year-old."

"I see," Van said calmly. "I asked my question in an overbearing way. Let me rephrase. Have you ever been tempted to do something that you know is wrong and done it?"

She ran a hand through her hair and ruffled it. "You're here, aren't you?"

He laughed. "I know I'm wrong for you, but I don't mean that. I mean before we met. Have you ever been so tempted to do something that was wrong that you couldn't resist? Didn't resist?"

"Like told a lie or stolen something?"

"Sure."

"No. I don't think so. I think I may have bent the truth a time or two, but other than that, I think I've mostly been honest, but you don't know my parents. That's a story and a half."

"The one you're trying not to tell?"

She shrugged and shifted so she was lying face down on the bed. "Overprotective would be a gentle way of putting it."

"Then I guess that's it. Mommy and Daddy kept you locked up at home?"

Hitomi groaned.

"And now you're away from them at university. What would they say if they could see you now?"

"They would take one look at you and Dilandau and feel sure I had gone straight to the devil," she laughed.

"Wait. You're still hanging out with Dilandau?" Van asked abruptly.

"Yeah. You picked me up from my Occult's Addict meeting tonight. Didn't you realize that? Friday night after midnight at the library? What else would I have been doing?"

Van gawked. "You should really give that up."

"Why?"

"I already said. That guy, Dilandau, is not normal."

"What do you mean? Surely he's not the vampire. He's not bald."

Van moved from his position on the floor and came to kneel beside her bed. He smoothed her hair and looked into her eyes gently as he spoke. "No, that guy isn't a vamp. It's been bothering me. I wish I knew what he was, but I have no idea. I even talked to my brother about him and he's at a loss, too. Granted, whatever he is might not be a big deal, but it might be a huge deal. He could be more dangerous than a vamp."

"What could be worse?" Hitomi scoffed. "Besides how bad could a vamp be if I'm with you? You've already compared them to blood-sucking insects. Let me see, if they're mosquitoes to you – how dangerous must you be?"

Van ignored her question and said thoughtfully, "Actually, there may be a way to guarantee that vampire will stay away from you. I should have thought of it sooner."

"What?"

"If you have my scent all over you, he may simply mistake you for me and take off. You know?"

Hitomi took a deep breath. Van smelled just like the card at the department store. "I don't want to wear men's cologne," Hitomi giggled. "I can't smell like Euphoria, or all the girls will be staring at me in the hall wondering why they got such a hot-man vibe and it turned out to be a tomboy. I'd get hit on by the girls – I promise."

"'Euphoria'," Van repeated, looking sceptical. "What are you talking about? I don't wear cologne."

Hitomi rolled her eyes. "Fine. Aftershave?"

Van jerked his head back and put some distance between them. "Why are we having this conversation? It's bizarre. I was trying to steer the conversation to one of those delicious moments where I could kiss you and you start asking me irrelevant questions about my personal hygiene?" He got to his feet and headed for the door. "It's late. Since I'm not staying over, I should really get going."

"Hey," Hitomi gawked, staring after him and jumping to her feet. "I didn't mean to chase you away, but you do smell exactly like Euphoria. It's a scent is based on pomegranates."

Van suddenly turned around and leaned against the door. He crossed his arms across his chest and let his coat dangle from one hand. "So you were researching me at the mall," he said with satisfaction.

"Not exactly," Hitomi said, stopping in her tracks. "No. I was just looking for a scent that was based on pomegranates and when I asked for one, they showed me Euphoria, but after I smelled it – I couldn't buy it. It smelled like you."

Van dropped his coat on the floor. "And why would you go looking for a perfume that smelled like pomegranates."

"Well," Hitomi fumbled. "It's the only thing I knew you liked."

"Really? After what you said last Saturday, it sounded like you were afraid I would bite you and drink your blood." Van began taking slow steady steps towards her. It was forcing her to back into the room.

Hitomi stuttered, "But, you keep saying that you're not a vampire, and what you've said tonight makes it sound like you're nothing like them, so …"

"So?" he encouraged when she faltered.

Hot sweat was breaking on Hitomi's back. He was advancing on her like a one man army and his sherry coloured eyes had eclipsed to the eyes of the man who wrote the blog about how he would ruin the woman he loved. They were so intense she could hardly meet them. She had to look away.

His fingers curled around her chin and he brought her face up to meet his eyes. "So?" he said again.

"So, why shouldn't I smell like something you like? You're my boyfriend," she choked.

When she gathered enough courage to look at him again, he seemed unreal. The slants of his eyes were menacing and a sinister fire seemed to be glowing behind his irises. Whatever he was thinking, his mind had gone to a place Hitomi had never been before. As he said, she was innocent.

"Are you my girlfriend?" he whispered, not taking his eyes off hers.

"We decided that last week," she stuttered.

"I remember, but … this is an awkward situation, Hitomi. Really awkward. There's this delightful little loop in our relationship that constantly contradicts itself. Would you like to hear it?"

She simply stared.

He licked his lips. As his mouth came open, his fangs extended until they were resting on his pale bottom lip. Hitomi stared spellbound at his mouth. She had never seen anything so mesmerizing in her entire life. Her mind registered no thought of danger. The only thing she knew was that she didn't want this moment to end. Whatever he was, he was the most fascinating creature that had ever existed … for anyone.

His voice was deep and smooth as he said, "You want a relationship with a vampire, but you don't want to get bitten. You want to lose your innocence, but in actual fact, you don't want to sin." Hitomi tried to interrupt, but Van stopped her words with his next ones. "Then there's me, and I'm the exact opposite. I want a relationship with you, an innocent girl, but I don't want to pollute you – even though it's unavoidable if you stay with me. I want to stop sinning, but I can't. Like I said, I'm not like those vampires. It's true they're cursed, but not like me – I'm the prince of curses."

Hitomi opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out.

"Hold still," Van said, turning her around so her back was against his chest. The heat from him swept through her body like a hurricane. His lips were by her ear and his hot breath trickled down her neck. "Do you trust me?"

"To what?" she mumbled. She couldn't focus on what he was saying since one of his hand slid around her waist.

"Protect you," he said softly, his tongue smacking lightly on his teeth.

"I trust you," she mouthed, but she made no sound.

"Then you have to stay conscious to the end. You need to smell exactly like me if you're going to be safe."

Even with everything Van had said, Hitomi still expected him to move in on her throat. She told herself he was going to bite her, even though he said he wasn't a vampire. Her mind was fogged and everything in her room felt strange – even the light was off-colour and grotesque.

"Don't be afraid," she told herself gently, as though she was rocking a screaming child. "There's nothing to be afraid of. This is what you wanted, so relax and let it happen."

Van shifted his position so he was standing behind her and to her amazement; he began kissing the bones along her spinal cord. She could feel his fangs, but the sharp points didn't even scratch her. His free hand caressed the side of her face and then moved down to her wrist. He lifted it and crushed it between his palm and his mouth.

Hitomi gasped.

No pain came. She opened her eyes to look, and she could see what he was doing. He was kissing her. He hadn't broken her skin.

He moved so that one of his arms was under her knees and the other supported her back. With one fluid motion, he had lifted her in his arms and placed her kindly on the bed.

"What are you doing?"

"Finishing up. I just have four more points to hit and then we'll be done. You don't mind, do you?"

At the foot of the bed, he lifted her ankle and unrolled her sock so her heel was bare. Hitomi nearly squealed as he moved from one ankle to the other.

"Don't be so jumpy," he reproved as he bent to kiss each dent again. Then he reached and curled his fingers around her yet unkissed wrist. "Two more to go," he said before he placed a kiss on her palm. Raising his eyes he looked into her face. "Are you ready for the last one? I'm impressed that you didn't black out."

Hitomi swallowed and pursed her lips.

Van placed a hand beside her head and moved her other hand so that it was resting over his heart. "Do you feel that? Do you feel my heart racing?"

"You're not dead," she responded quietly.

"No," he said, moving his hand so that it cradled her head.

"But you're not a normal human?"

"Would you be interested in me if I were?" he said cynically before lowering his head and kissing her lips.

Hitomi closed her eyes and sincerely tried to focus, but it was no use. It was like there was a switch inside her that he activated when their lips met and her brain left the place where she lay in Van's arms.

She was running through a dark hallway with tall vaulted arched ceilings over her head. She ran past columns of stone pillars that reached to the heavens. Blue light trickled in through breaks in the ceiling like stars. Holding her shoes, the souls of her feet danced on the stone tile. She gripped the hem of her dress and pushed her hair out of her face.

Then she became aware that a dark abyss was growing behind her as it chased her down the corridor. She had to escape from it, but no matter how her feet flew or how the gigantic double doors at the end of the hallway came closer, the darkness didn't stop. It was just as desperate to keep her as she was to leave it. She had to break free. She could feel cold, like metal chains sliding against her bare arms like snakes. It didn't matter the form of what lay behind her. Turning back was forbidden. Even one false thought would plunge her back into the deepest realms of darkness. But her spirit was not that weak and she plunged through the doors like they were liquid.

The light broke in one massive wave against her body and heat finally returned to her. The dark thing that pursued her recoiled into the fortress and the doors slammed shut with a heart-stopping echo.

Hitomi caught her breath and tossing her shoes to the ground she threw her head back to bask in the sunlight. The glorious white orb hung in the sky like the purest and brightest gemstone. Clouds grew in gathering puffs like cream coloured cotton candy. She fell back on the grass and pushed her long wet hair out of her face. She was laughing. Something amazing had just happened and the triumph of it left her glowing and glorious.

Then from the corner of her eye she saw something incredible. There was a white horse standing on the grass that possessed sprawling wings and balky feathers. It was like Pegasus. When it saw her, it snorted and lifted its wings. Leaning against its body was a young man with black hair and sherry eyes.

Van.

Though Hitomi could not see herself, she could easily see him. He was wearing a roan encrusted vest with the most elaborate stitching, a white collared shirt and black trousers. And his expression made her heart skip a beat. He looked ultimately satisfied and pleased.

He advanced towards her and offered her his hand.

Lifting her up, he instantly had his arms around her and his kiss brought her back to her dorm room where she was lying on the bed.

She opened her eyes and looked at Van.

"That's great," he said softly. "It looks like you survived one kiss. Let's see if you can make it through two."

Hitomi put her arms around his neck and drew his head towards her. She wanted to see what else his kiss had in store for her. She felt his lips part and the heat of his breath and then everything disappeared.

Van got up from the bed and found his coat on the floor. It turned out that Hitomi hadn't been able to make it through that second kiss and she lay completely unconscious on the bed.

"Poor girl," he muttered to himself before putting his coat on.

He looked briefly around the room to see if there was something to cover her with since she had fallen asleep on top of her blankets. He bent down and looked under the bed and then briefly in the chest at the end of her bed. There was nothing, so he turned to the closet. There wasn't a spare blanket on the side he looked first – only clothes, so he pulled the door shut. As Van moved the wooden door, another door came into view - one with a poster on it.

He stared at his own face.

He unconsciously put a hand to his mouth. There he was – a black and white image – except that his eyes were coloured red.

"Where in the world did she get this?" he said aloud as he touched the place on the poster that showed the three sets of bite marks down his neck. His other hand went immediately to the scars on his own throat.

For a moment, he considered ripping it down and taking it with him, but he immediately discarded the idea. If she liked him so much that she had a picture of him then wasn't that in his favour? Then another idea came to him. He remembered her post about being in love with a vampire. It seems it was him from the start. After all, there was that one myth about three bites from a vampire turning you into one.

He slid open the remaining closet door and found a spare blanket on the top shelf. Unfolding it, he spread it out over Hitomi. Hopefully, that would keep her warm until morning. He flicked off the light switch, left the desk lamp on, and headed out. Locking the door behind him, he soon found himself in the dormitory hall and then on the empty street outside. It was almost five, but it was still black as pitch out. He could walk home before the busses started, so he took to his feet and marched along the pavement.

He needed some water.

* * *

Author's Notes: Great big thanks to Kaytala for beta reading for me. Thank you to everyone who reads and reviews. I have also opened a forum for my Escaflowne fics. It's accessible through my profile page. It's called 'Shivering Wings' and then 'Vampire Kiss chapters 8-10'. Come visit if you have time. I want to see if everyone thinks Van is as scary as Kaytala thought he was. Cheers! Love is all around the world.


	9. Fishing for Trouble

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne, but I own everything else, so don't even think about it.

* * *

**Chapter Nine**

**Fishing for Trouble**

The foggy morning light drifted past Hitomi's curtains and brought her into a state of consciousness. She batted her eyelashes and brought the room into focus. Her room was neat as a pin, but there was no long-limbed gentleman asleep at her desk or dark-haired rogue in bed with her.

Van was gone.

Hitomi sighed.

She couldn't remember a thing after their second kiss and that had been somewhere between four and five in the morning. Had he left right after that? From the looks of things, he hadn't done a thing to her, but merely covered her with a blanket and walked out. Well, she reminded herself, there was one other thing he could have done to her. She felt the contours of her throat, but the skin was one hundred percent unbroken.

She flopped back down on her bed.

What should she do now? After their conversation the night before, it seemed like Hitomi was left with two alternatives. One: Van was an ordinary guy who was pretending to be some dark demonic thing just to get her attention. Two: he actually was some dark demonic … thing.

When Hitomi thought of her first theory, Dilandau's red eyes popped into her head. He seemed to be saying, "I'm an everyday guy and I'm wearing red contacts. Remember? The simplest solution is usually the correct one. And Van? Yeah, he's a normal guy, too. Don't be so dumb that you believe everything he tells you."

Since when had Dilandau become the voice in her head? Was he supposed to be the devil or the angel sitting on her shoulder?

Shrugging off that train of thought, Hitomi considered the second theory. That he was really something dark - cursed. There were three pieces of evidence that supported this theory: the three bite marks in a neat line down the vein in his throat, his fangs, and the fact that he said himself that he scared off vampires, because oops – he was scarier than they were.

At first, Hitomi thought that she was willing to go along on his little ride, whether he was a normal guy or not. She thought it would be fun to play along, but now, she wasn't sure. Her feelings were getting too involved, and if she kept on this path, she might end up making a total fool of herself or put herself in real danger. Whichever, she needed to crack down on what Van Fanel really was.

Reminding herself that it was completely okay if he was an ordinary guy, she picked up her cell phone and gave the Occult's Addict president a call.

"Hello," Naria answered her phone briskly.

"Hi Naria, this is Hitomi."

"Hey, how's it going? Lucky you called after ten, if you'd called ten minutes earlier, I wouldn't have answered. What can I do for you this morning?"

"I was just wondering what information our club has gathered on Van. Could you share it with me?"

Naria yawned. "Sure, Babe, but I think you're in a much better position to share information with us, since you're so close to him and everything."

Hitomi hesitated and bit her lip. "I already told Dilandau a bunch of stuff. Didn't he report it or pass on what I told him?"

"That little puke," Naria fumed. "No, he didn't. Look, Hitomi, don't tell him anything. He's been so out despicably jealous since that night when you left the greenhouse with Van. I can hardly stand to be around him anymore. Just come to Eriya or me when you have something interesting to spill. We're all women, so it'll be more fun to tell us anyway."

Hitomi suddenly remembered her conversation with Yukari about Van. She didn't want to hear about it, but these people did. Her heart sang.

"You bet," Hitomi said cheerfully, and explained how she had blacked out when he kissed her.

"You are so lucky," Naria said when she was finished. "Van's piping hot, but it's not just his face. The man looks totally tortured while somehow managing to look sophisticated and … I don't know … he seems like he's got a layer of violence under his façade." She sighed. "I hope you have a good time with him. I wish I'd pursued him a little more closely, but I had no idea he had such a honey dappled way of talking, or such a razor-sharp wit."

"Yeah, he's a little brutal, huh?"

"Gorgeous, but vicious," she agreed. "It's a good thing Dilandau didn't try to spar with him. There would have been bloodshed."

Hitomi smiled. At least someone understood her fascination. And as for Dilandau? She couldn't make herself care. "So, what have you found out about him?" she asked.

"To tell you the truth, we don't know that much about him. We weren't that far into our investigation when you showed up, and I just thought you'd take it over. So, I have his address and Dilandau's pictures of him and that's all."

"His address? That's more than I have. I haven't been over to his place yet."

"All right, here it is."

Hitomi wrote down Van's address as Naria dictated it.

"Wow, I'm glad you had it so handy," Hitomi commented. "Where do you store this information so that it's so accessible?"

"Ah," Naria said, sounding nonchalant. "My day planner is next to my bed and that's where I keep all my occult stuff. At least, it's where I keep this kind of stuff. I gotta go, Hitomi, but you be sure to let me know how it goes with Van. If he sucks your blood, I want to be the first to know. Later."

With that, Naria hung up. Hitomi didn't even get a chance to say 'Goody-bye' before the line went dead.

"That was a little weird," Hitomi thought as she dropped her phone on her bedspread. It wasn't that Naria's friendliness was completely unexpected, but Hitomi found the end of the conversation awkward. She expected to have to wait a few days for Naria to give her Van's address. Why in the world did she have it at her fingertips?

Hitomi shrugged. She should just be happy with the result. Now she could spend her entire Saturday hunting Van down and figuring him out.

She looked at his address more carefully. His apartment complex wasn't in her part of the city; rather it was across the river in an area she had never been. However, the numbers made it seem like it wasn't that far away. Too far to walk, she decided as she shoved herself to her feet. She needed to take her time getting ready, just in case she 'accidentally' ran into the object of her pursuit.

* * *

Hitomi sat in the front of a city bus, watching the scenery closely. She had never crossed the river before. The water was grey as the wan sunlight flickered across its stirring surface. The poplars and oaks had long lost their leaves and now only the spruce and pine kept their green needles. Winter always came so early in this part of the world. Today the sky was overcast and the wind bore down on the pedestrians. Hitomi was glad she had chosen to take the bus.

As they climbed the valley, Hitomi kept her eye fixed on the street signs. She knew her stop would be soon once they reached the top. She pushed the stop button for fear of missing her stop and the bus came to an immediate and bumpy stop.

She smiled apologetically to the bus driver as she stepped out the front doors. "Thanks," she muttered.

Once on the sidewalk, she examined the piece of paper in her hand with Van's address scrawled across it. His place was over three blocks and then she would have to back-track into the river valley two more blocks to get there. Luckily, she didn't think she would freeze to death before she found it.

She walked leisurely, looking at the houses and apartment buildings, wondering idly what Van's building would be like. Some of the designs were so old; absolutely nothing like what she was used to back in her hometown. They were fascinating to her.

After she had covered a little over a block of her journey, she became aware that someone was walking behind her. At first, she wasn't alarmed. There were lots of people out on the streets. Weren't there? Hitomi's eyes flickered around the streets, searching. There was no one. She shook her head and her growing apprehension with it. It was just a person walking. There was nothing to be suspicious of. But when she finally made her turn to enter the deeper parts of the valley, she realized that it was a man and he had caught up to her so that she was only three steps ahead of him. She didn't even hear his footfalls behind her.

She jumped. It felt like he was practically breathing down her neck.

"Sorry," he said deftly – his voice deep and slightly echoing through the cold. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Hitomi stared at him. It was unintentional, but she couldn't help it. Besides Van, she had never seen anyone who appeared so utterly unreal. His hair was the colour of salt, and his eyes were the colour of coral. However, it wasn't just his colouring that made this new person in front of her seem amazing. Dilandau had similar colouring. It was something else; something far deeper that Hitomi couldn't exactly analyze.

He stepped in front of her with a flirty smile and strode ahead of her with a silence and a speed in his long legs that seemed to wake Hitomi up. She forced herself to walk faster just to keep up with him. She had to figure out what it was that made him special before he disappeared.

Suddenly, he stopped in front of a small cluster of outdoor mailboxes and Hitomi was forced to proceed ahead of him. It was no use; she had no excuse to loiter, because now she was standing outside Van's building.

It was a completely ordinary building. It was built of brick. There were no balconies, so it was probably pretty old. Hitomi put the man she had just seen out of her head and wondered which one of the windows belonged to Van.

Bravely, she walked up to the buzzer panel. She had planned to find out his apartment number from the buzzer numbers. There had to be a list of names like there was at every other building, but when she looked at the list of occupants, she saw that it was completely blank. There was only one button that had anything written beside it. It said 'manager' on it, but there was nothing else.

Hitomi sighed.

"Can I help you with something?" that deep voice said again.

Hitomi spun around to see the stranger who had been following her standing in front of her. His keys were between his fingers. He probably lived here.

Hitomi smiled sheepishly and said, "My boyfriend lives here, so I was just looking for his apartment. That's all."

"Oh really?" the stranger said, clearly amused. "Who's your boyfriend? I'm the manager here, so I know everyone."

"Van Fanel," Hitomi said, unable to meet the stranger's gaze and dropping her eyes to the pavement. She was even blushing with glee at being able to call Van her boyfriend. She already knew that if this guy was the manager, then he had to be Van's older brother.

"Ah, Van," the man said speculatively, his tongue rooting around in his cheek. "Yeah. Did he invite you here?"

Hitomi flushed even deeper. "Not exactly."

"Didn't think so," he said, his voice gaining a satisfied quality to it. "I've sent him out on a little errand for me. You can come in and wait for him if you'd like." Then he extended his hand. "I'm Folken."

Hitomi shook hands with him. His hand felt warm and welcoming, and all the unease Hitomi had felt evaporated.

Folken took her handshake as a 'yes' and putting his key in the hole, opened the front door for her. The inside was everything Hitomi had expected. Buildings built in this style usually opened into a staircase; one flight going up and the other flight going down with a door capping each hallway of suites.

"Come on," Folken said, heading up the stairs.

Hitomi nodded and followed after him.

When he got to the top floor, he took out his keys again and unlocked the door that Hitomi figured led into the hallway. When he opened the door, there was no hall, instead, the entire floor had been gutted and made into a single private apartment. It led into an overly large, but extremely tidy living space. A stainless steel kitchen separated the living area from the dining area. As Hitomi proceeded further into the apartment she saw that the whole back wall by the dining room table was glass, overlooking the river valley. The view was incredible. Her mind couldn't even calculate the value of this place. Lastly, there were doors leading off in both directions.

"This is Van's place?" Hitomi gawked.

"No," Folken said pleasantly, tossing his coat on the back of a leather armchair and dropping himself into it. "This is my place. That is Van's room," he said, pointing his chin towards one of the doors. "What exactly did Van tell you about his living arrangements?"

Hitomi gulped. She suddenly felt like she was being quizzed and her answers were very important. "He didn't say much. He said his brother owned an apartment building and he lived there."

Folken nodded. "Yeah, that's how he talks. So," he said stretching his legs out and putting his hands behind his head. "What should we do now?"

Hitomi's skin turned cold.

"How about a tour?" she said, trying to keep her voice steady. She didn't want him to know she was a little scared. She had to seem courageous.

"A tour?" he mocked. "You don't want a tour of this place little girl who says she's Van's girlfriend."

"I don't say I am his girlfriend. I am. Didn't he mention me?"

"Well, what's your name, little un-introduced girl?"

"Hitomi."

"He didn't mention you," Folken said negatively. "But don't let that bother you. I have no problem inviting strangers up to my private rooms for a little fun." He scrutinized her with careful eyes while cold sweat pooled at the base of her neck. "Van didn't say anything about you, but my daughter did. There are two things you should know about Van and I should tell them to you before he gets back," he got up from the chair and came towards her. Standing closer to her he said directly, "If you're looking for a fairy-tale ending, you will never get it with him. So, you should back off now, if that's what you want. It will hurt a lot less now than later." He paused for a moment and took a deep breath. "The other thing you should realize is that if you're here for fan-service (and I sincerely hope you know what I mean when I say that) you won't do well getting it from Van. He's … sort of hopeless in that department and extremely inconsistent."

Hitomi had no idea what he meant when he said 'fan-service', but made a note of it and decided to ask Van about it when he got back.

"Thanks," Hitomi said peacefully. "I'll remember your warning."

She was about to ask him who his daughter was, but just as she opened her mouth to ask, the apartment buzzer rang and Folken excused himself to pick up the phone.

Hitomi pretended not to listen to his conversation by turning her back on him, when actually her ears were peeled.

Folken's deep voice was practically a whisper, but Hitomi still caught most of it. "Right now?" he asked. "I have a guest. No, not that kind of guest. Hmm … how could I refuse such an invitation? All right. I'll get rid of her. I'll buzz you up in two minutes. Don't move."

He put down the receiver and came over to where Hitomi was admiring the painting over the mantelpiece.

"What do you think of it?" he asked serenely, as though he had all the time in the world and wasn't looking for an excuse to toss her out on her ear.

Hitomi, in no rush to leave, took her time letting her eyes explore the canvas.

The painting was a portrait of an extremely beautiful woman. Hitomi had never seen a face like hers before. She had waves of blonde/black hair (if such a thing were possible) that fell around her face like the mane of a lion. Her eyes seemed colourless, or rather the exact shade of her skin, and held the pitiless quality of a person who cared for no one but herself. Her lips were like plums and the dark lilies painted around her made her seem utterly exotic. One of her hands curled up by her cheek, making her look slightly thoughtful. No, not exactly thoughtful, it was more like the wheels that turned in her head always came to a devious and terrible conclusion. Yet, even having observed all that, the woman was, without reservation, the most exquisitely gorgeous creature Hitomi had ever laid eyes on.

"The artist had quite the imagination," she remarked.

"I'm afraid that if you had seen the original, you would find this pathetic scratching lacking. I painted it myself. I love beautiful women, but no one is ever as beautiful as Raidne, and every time I see her she's even more so."

"You painted this?" Hitomi asked, searching the corner of the canvas to see when it was done. The markings said it was painted in nineteen seventy-four. She had no clue how old Folken was. Maybe he was in his early thirties, but if he were then he would have been a child when this was painted. But to make him a teenager when it was painted meant making him at least fifteen years older than she had suspected. "How old are you?"

"Old enough to be your father," he said grimly before moving away from the picture.

"Wait! If this was a real person, where is the original? Was she your wife?"

"Oh no," Folken said slowly. "She could never be anyone's wife. Look carefully at her eyes, child. What kind of a person do you think has eyes like those?"

Hitomi looked thoughtfully and the only answer she came up with was uncommonly bleak. "A murderer," she answered quietly.

"And it's even more cruel than you know, or than I will explain. Now, come along with me. You wanted a tour and I'm suddenly inclined to give you one."

"Thank you," she said as she followed him, forgetting the painting behind her. Maybe this would be his way of showing her to the door.

Folken led her along a white wall with occasional doors. Then he abruptly stopped in front of one of them. "This," he said as he put his hand to the door knob, "is Van's room."

The door swung open noiselessly, but the curtains were drawn and the room was flooded in darkness, except for the sunlight that poured in through the wall of glass at the other end of the floor. Hitomi couldn't see anything except a patch of linoleum flooring.

Folken inclined his head for her to enter.

She hesitated.

"During the renovation, I had a lot of opportunities for improvement. For example, this room," he said, by way of making conversation, "is completely soundproof. No one out in the living room can hear what happens in this room, and no one in there can hear what happens out here."

"Does Van listen to loud music?" Hitomi asked, feeling the wall for the light switch. She couldn't find it. The wall felt empty.

"It's up here," Folken said, placing his fingers over hers and guiding them along the wall till they reached the plastic switch. It was about level with Folken's neck, which made it higher than Hitomi's head. She moved to turn it on, but his grip tightened and her fingers were locked. Struggling, she tried to free herself, but she couldn't get away.

"Let go," she hissed, glaring at him.

"I have this problem," he said gently. "I have someone coming up to see me and I _have_ _to_ see them." The way he said the words 'have to' made him sound like a man dying of thirst on the Sahara, desperate for a drink. "It has nothing to do with you, but it's too late for you to leave. I'm very sorry, but I have no choice except to lock you in here until either Van comes to rescue you, or my guest leaves."

"You wouldn't," Hitomi gasped.

"I _have to_," he said, and then he pushed her into the room and slammed the door shut.

Hitomi landed on her palms and knees. She heard Folken secure the lock before she could even rise. Rushing to the door, she tried the doorknob, but it was completely immovable. There was no dial on the end of the knob, not even a little hole like a bathroom door. It was smooth. She banged on the door with her fist, but nothing happened. Then she remembered what he said about the room being soundproof. There wasn't any point in fighting. Besides, she got to see the inside of Van's bedroom. Wasn't that what she wanted?

She reached for the light switch, but when the room filled with scattered light, Hitomi was more puzzled than Van had ever made her before. This room … was not normal.

* * *

Author's Notes: Really really sorry it took so long for me to get this chapter out. Kaytala beta read it for me very quickly though, so a HUGE thank-you to her. And thanks to everyone who reads and reviews this. And thank you to everyone who comes to my forum and comments. My forum is accessible through my profile page. Just go there and click on 'Forums'. The forum is called 'Shivering Wings' and you're there. Thanks EVERYONE! Read a lot! I'll be asking questions on my forum, so see you there!


	10. Den of Darkness

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne, but there isn't a whole lot of it in here anyway.

* * *

**Chapter 10**

**Den of Darkness**

When Hitomi flicked on the light switch in Van's room, she had expected a lamp or an overhead light to turn on. Instead, a disco ball, hanging from the centre of the high ceiling, began to spin and fragments of light began dancing across the walls.

What was this place?

Now the room was in view and Hitomi could not believe what she saw. There were no windows to let extra light in and there were no other electric lights to turn on – only the disco ball offering its meagre light. Yet, it didn't seem meagre to her eyes. It seemed magical. There were tiny mirrors in the shape of stars secured to the ceiling and when the tiny streams of light reflected on them, Hitomi suddenly felt like she had entered heaven. This was where Van lived.

At first, she couldn't take her eyes off the ceiling, but eventually, she pulled her eyes away and forced herself to take a better look at the room. It was strange. Stranger than any place she had ever been before, and yet so like a dream she wished she'd had the imagination to fantasize.

There was a circular hot tub in one corner of the room – and it was still full of water. At one corner of the tub, there was a small gilded table with a bowl of pomegranates on it and a myriad of candles. Some of them were burnt very low. At the other corner, there was a machine that Hitomi did not recognize. It was white and had a flat top, but she had no idea what it was used for. She found the power button and turned it on, but the only thing that happened was that the top began moving. One side of the flat top lowered while the other side rose. It acted like a tiny teeter-totter and since she had no idea what the use of it could possibly be, she turned it off.

There was a wardrobe beside the machine and Hitomi reluctantly opened it, expecting to find only clothes, but it wasn't full of Van's jeans. Instead, there was nothing in it but towels.

Hitomi smiled. She should have guessed, but then again, she'd never had a hot tub in her room. And apparently, Van used his all the time.  
There was no coffin and instead a big bed in a beautiful black metal frame. She liked the bedposts and the intricate ironwork. Just looking at it, she longed to drape transparent fabric over the posts to make a canopy. As it was, it was only covered in black covers and pillows. Hitomi realized that was what allowed the bed frame to be in a man's room – it was completely underdressed.

The other corner of the room was occupied by a small desk. There was a laptop on it and when Hitomi jiggled the mouse the monitor flicked on. No password was needed and so she had immediate access to his files. His winamp control bar was dark and took up half his screen. He was listening to Depeche Mode 'Walking in my Shoes'. Hitomi wasn't familiar with the song, but she'd heard of the band. Then she spotted an open white window. It looked like nothing until she expanded the view. It was a Word document. It looked like Van was writing something. From looking at the formatting, she guessed it was a poem.

Hitomi sat down on his swivelling office stool and began to read the words. There was no title. Without preface, Van plunged her into a world she didn't know existed, but it did. It was there, under her eyes.

_Midnight waves wake my senses - Confused_

_The water burns me to my eyes - Suffused_

_The dreams haunt my mind - Disintegration_

_I can't battle my dreams - Formulation_

**_The First Dream_**

_I'm young while she's beautiful – Bemused_

_Untouchable and irrevocably touched – Defused_

_The pool of blood I laid in at road's end – Surprised_

_Death's white fingers like love – Realized_

**_The Second Dream_**

_I'm angry while she's patient – Placate_

_Provoked by her lover to knife's point – Aggravate_

_Brown eyes triggered bloody red – Amused_

_Lose my body in the violent fray – Refused_

**_The Third Dream_**

_Like an injured monster lost in water - Rescue_

_Like a broken man waiting by the window – Withdrew_

_Still feigning while dreaming – Conventionalize_

_The morn will be bright after the hardest night – Cruel Lies_

Hitomi felt bewildered as she read the words. They triggered a storm of conflicting thoughts that came down on her so suddenly that she couldn't organize them.

Van dreamed.

She would have passed his dreams off as therapeutic poetry to ease his heavy burdens, except for one thing. The third line in the second verse struck an unusual cord with her. It read, 'The pool of blood I laid in at road's end'. Hitomi had that dream, too. The first time he kissed her, she remembered having a vision of his body on the cusp of death. She drank his blood – like salt water in a storm, but hot like a bubble bath, and precious like the silver lining on dark clouds. It had been her first dream, also. Did they dream of the same things at the same time? He never mentioned anything before.

Her mind swam. What had her second dream been about? She had been waiting in a room with a goblet of her own blood on a table beside her. Rereading Van's second dream, she tried to decipher whether they lined up.

She didn't know.

Her third dream had been the night before. She remembered chasing through the hallway full of shadows, but for her there had been light at the end, and Van waiting for her. There had been a happy ending. Why was there a happy ending for her and not for Van?

She frowned.

How much longer was Folken going to keep her locked up? When would Van come home?

For the first time, Hitomi wondered what he would say when he found her here. There was no question about it. She was going to be in very deep trouble.

Well, she would only make it worse if she meddled around with his computer needlessly, so she resized the Word document so it looked the same as before and slid away from his desk.

She got up and at first; she didn't know what to do with herself. She stretched and lay down on his bed. She opened her eyes when her head hit the pillow and she saw what Van saw on his ceiling before he went to sleep. No wonder there was no canopy on his bed. Why would you want to cover the twinkling stars?

So, she thought as she turned on her side and pulled the pillow close, this is where Van does his dreaming.

Hitomi didn't dream when she slept. It was one of those things that nagged at her conscience. Shouldn't she? Everyone she knew dreamed, but she merely blacked out and woke up several hours later. Her experiences with Van had been her first chances to dream. Now that she thought about her visions, she felt like somehow, they made her more like other people. Maybe, just maybe, she wasn't a broken person anymore. She closed her eyes and pretended she was whole. But soon, she found herself scratching her knee and then her ear in irritation. Her mind never accepted these attitude transplants no matter how many times she tried them. Her parents never encouraged her to look back. They wanted to keep her in the present. They wanted to keep her safe. But always there was the question … what happened to make her this way?

Just then, there was a rattling at the door and the whole room brightened at Van's entrance. At first, the sunlight from the living room was so bright that she couldn't see what he was doing, but when she squinted, she caught the end of it. He had pulled a key from the lock and threw it into the living room.

Then Hitomi heard a sort of muffled scream outside the room. It was a woman's voice.

Van closed the door and then Hitomi realized what he had done. He had locked the two of them inside without giving them a way to get out.

"What's going on out there?" Hitomi choked, suddenly gripped in terror. There had been no noise before, so she hadn't worried about what Folken was doing out there. She was so stupid. She didn't even worry why it was soundproof.

Van didn't answer her and it was so dark that she couldn't see the expression on his face. Instead, he dropped his backpack on the floor and began taking off his shirt.

"What are you doing?" she asked. Her voice had been half strangled before, so perhaps he hadn't heard her.

He didn't acknowledge her as he whipped his shirt over his head and threw it on top of his computer stool. Then he began undoing his belt and pants.

"Van, stop! Can't you see I'm in here?" she practically yelled, holding his pillow over her eyes.

"Quiet down," he mumbled. "You're going to give me a headache. Besides, I'm not getting naked. Good grief." Then she heard the slight tremor of water.

She took the pillow away from her face and saw Van had gotten in the water and completely submerged himself. Hitomi stared. He was under for an awfully long time. Eventually, he came out of the water and shook his hair like he didn't care what got wet.

"So, Hitomi," he said, finally paying attention to her. "I'm a little confused. What are you doing here?" He leaned over and began lighting the candles by the tub.

"You act like you're not happy to see me," she pouted.

The candlelight glistened against the droplets of water on his white cheek and ignited a fire in his eyes. "I'm starving," he said simply. Then he took a pomegranate out of the bowl and began peeling it.

Hitomi climbed off the bed and came over to the tub. She was a little apprehensive at first, but Van said he wasn't going to get naked and sure enough, when she perched herself on the lip of the tub, she saw he was still wearing a pair of dark coloured briefs.

"What was that screaming outside?" she asked slowly.

Van didn't even pause as he answered smoothly. "My brother is cooking. I think he accidentally cut himself."

"That didn't sound like him. It sounded like a woman."

Van laughed and popped a few of the red kernels in his mouth. "I can't help it if he's a bit feminine."

"Then why are we locked in here if all he's doing is cooking?" she demanded.

"'We' are not locked in here, Little Girl. _You_ are locked in here," he corrected as he tossed a bit of the peel over the edge of the tub. "What are you doing here, anyway? Isn't coming here advanced magic, even for you?"

"What are you talking about?"

He shook his head wearily. "You're not afraid of me, are you? Afraid of what I could do to you?"

"Not really," she said slowly.

"Well, you should be," he answered, his head hanging at an angle. "You've caught me at a very bad time. I'm starving."

Hitomi shivered. "But you said that you weren't a vampire. You were worried that the vampire would hurt me. You would never hurt me."

He put a hand to his forehead and said bitterly, "Wouldn't I?"

"You're not a vampire," she repeated.

Van threw his head back and stared at his beautiful ceiling. His voice sounded like truck tires on gravel when he said his next words, "That doesn't mean I don't drink blood."

Hitomi bit her lip to stop herself from yelping. She sat very still on the edge of the tub and didn't speak. Was he telling the truth?

"The problem is that Folken is cooking right now, and I have to wait for him to finish." He dropped the uneaten pomegranate by the side of the tub and continued, "These won't satisfy me when I'm like this. You shouldn't have come. This room, it isn't for you. If I could stay away from you, I would. I would leave you in the lurch so fast if I could find the one whom I'm really meant for. Why do I even bother? Masquerading as a human; it's so pointless. If I could, I would throw you out on the street right now with the stiffest warning you've ever had. You should stay away from me."

"What about last night?" she whispered.

"What about it?"

"Don't you love me? Even if it's just a little bit?" she asked, putting her thumb and index finger an inch apart.

He squinted like thinking about this was painful for him. Then he swallowed. "You're cute, but I don't know if I would call what I feel for you 'love'. Sometimes it feels like you're just a gorgeous distraction trying to keep me from my real goal."

"What's your real goal?"

He sighed. "To break my curse. It's just that when I met you, I realized on sight that I should have nothing to do with you and I tried to keep you out of my life, but then you said that if I left you would go back to Dilandau. My hands were tied. That felt like the worst thing I had ever heard of. You going back to _him_? I couldn't stand it. I still can't stand it, because that's the truth, isn't it? If I leave, you'll end up with him. You won't quit your Occult's Addict thing, will you?"

"No," she said gravely.

"And that's why I'm here. You can't go to him to be trampled and put down. You have to be free. I don't understand it. It seems the weirdest thing in the world that being with me would be the thing to set you free."

"I don't like the way this conversation is going. Are trying to escalate our relationship by biting me, or are you trying to offend me so badly that I'll break up with you?" she asked, her voice caustic.

"Do you want me to bite you?" he asked quizzically.

She blushed and deferred answering, "I want you to feel strongly about me. I want you to feel as passionate about me as I feel about you. You mentioned that you're meant for someone else earlier. Far be it for me to keep you from your destiny, because I don't want to be your second choice. If that's how it is, then I don't want you to touch me."

"Even though just one of my kisses sends you into such ecstasy that you can't keep conscious?"

"You're an ego maniac in disguise, aren't you? And yeah, even though."

A few moments passed and neither of them said anything.

Finally, Van found his voice and he asked, "Would you go to Dilandau if I left?"

"It's this feeling I have," she said, sounding wistful. "I just know, somewhere I can't explain, that he will be there for me no matter what happens."

"What a curious feeling. Maybe you really are meant to be with him then, if that's what your heart tells you." He sat very still and seemed to be thinking this over. "No," he said at last. "I can't give you to him."

Hitomi leaned towards Van and looked him in the eye. "Do you love me? Do you think there's a way for you to give up on whatever woman you see in your future and just be happy with me?"

Van's lips curled as though he were in pain. "I wish I could."

She got up from the tub. "Then I won't stay. I've read too many books and seen too many dramas for that kind of a line to work on me. I won't be led on by half promises. If there's someone else or some other type of girl you feel you must pursue, then I will politely bow out. I promise not to go to Dilandau right away, or at least, not out of loneliness. So, that should satisfy you. You need not fear that I'll do something stupid because you were unkind to me. There. Is that all you need for you to do whatever you want with a clean conscience?"

He glared at her. "So, you can just put your feelings for me aside?"

"I didn't say I wouldn't be lonely. I didn't say I wouldn't be desperate. I said that I wouldn't do anything stupid because you rejected me. That's all. That doesn't change how much I want you in my life. I want you so bad. You have no idea how much I'm dying to unlock the secrets of your world. For starters, why am I locked in here?" she almost yelled, rattling the doorknob. "Are you and your brother cannibals? Is Folken killing some innocent girl out there and I have to be locked in here so that I can't be a witness? Why did you walk in here, immediately strip and get in the tub? Why was it filled with water to start with? Shouldn't you leave it drained? There are so many questions I can hardly count. Who is Folken's daughter and why does she know me? Why do you have a picture of that woman, Raidne, in your living room? The woman Folken told me was a murderer? It's so awful, but I want to know everything."

"You're putting yourself in a precarious position even being here, Hitomi. But since you're asking me outright, I can answer a few of those questions. First, neither my brother nor I are killers. Do you believe me?"

She nodded, feeling stout and dying to hear every last word that dripped from his superb lips. She was even proud of herself for bullying a few answers out of him.

"The scream from before was probably nothing more than one of Folken's lovers. Some of them are quite vocal. Don't let it bother you."

"Why didn't you say so before?"

"I didn't like to freak you out. You seem so pure. Who knew you were imagining that he was hacking some girl to bits on the countertop? That's the reason the rooms are sound proof. He doesn't want to traumatize the more innocent members of his household and in an offbeat way that includes me." At this point, Van actually laughed and with his laughter, the mood in the room lightened considerably. He got out of the tub, took a towel out of the wardrobe and started drying himself, starting with his face. "I think the only other question I don't mind answering is about Folken's daughter. Yes, you know her. It's Merle. Bet you never would have guessed that she's my niece."

"No," Hitomi started, aghast.

"Well, she is. She's been my precious friend for many years."

"And you won't answer my questions about the tub?"

"That's because they are ridiculous. Everyone has baths," he said simply, as he motioned for Hitomi to turn around. "Go ahead. I need to put dry clothes on."

"I'm done," he said after a decent interval.

Hitomi turned. He was sitting on the edge of his bed, putting on a pair of black socks. He was wearing what looked like a dark turtleneck sweater and a pair of dark slacks. Exact colours couldn't be defined in the hollow of his room.

"Oh," she said, suddenly remembering Folken's warning. "What's fanservice?"

Van started. "Where did you hear that?"

"Folken. He said that if I wanted to have a happy future, then I had to leave you alone. Then he said something about how you weren't very good at fanservice. What was he talking about?"

Van shook his head in disgust. "I'm not answering that."

"Really? That's too bad. Maybe I could ask Folken instead. I'm sure he wouldn't mind explaining."

"I'm sure he would. The fact that he used the word 'fanservice' instead of speaking bluntly means that he doesn't want to talk about it with you if you don't already understand it."

Hitomi fumed. She both loved this situation and hated it. Here she was, locked in a room with the object of her desire and yet he was being a complete bonehead. And he wasn't answering her questions to her satisfaction. She hated being left out of a joke or missing the meaning of something because she was so 'innocent' and it happened to her all the time.

"So, basically," he drawled, leaning back on the bed. "You won't continue seeing me if you think I've got something else going on the back burner?"

"Doesn't that sound like a waste of time, even for you?"

"My whole life is a waste of time."

"Yeah," she said quietly. "I read your poem. You sound very bleak."

"What poem?" he asked, sitting up and leaning his elbow on his knee.

"The one you had open on your computer screen. The one you wrote about your three dreams."

"Dreams," Van repeated, looking beyond her like he was in a trance.

"Will you tell me more about them?" she asked, coming to sit beside him. Maybe she still had a chance to win him over if she was patient and understanding.

"You shouldn't have snooped," he said, still staring at that same place on the wall. "And you shouldn't be sitting this close to me. I'm hungry."

Hitomi's skin turned cold. "Would you really bite me?"

He turned his face away from her and plugged his nose.

"I don't believe you'd actually bite me," she said, not entirely sure if that was what she believed or not.

"Don't provoke me. I was lying before about only you being locked in here. I can't get out either. We have to wait for Folken to come."

"Were you also lying about him cooking?"

One of his eyebrows twitched. "I can't stand this. Please, go sit over there, or better still, take off your clothes and get in the tub."

"What?" Hitomi exclaimed.

"You don't understand," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "With only you in _my_ room, I can smell you so much better. There are no distractions. When I'm in your room, I can pretend that what I smell is your fabric softener. When we're out in public, I smell everything but you. The tub is still full of water and my scent. Either get in, or … I really will bite you."

Hitomi stared, completely unsure how to handle this. Was this the new way to get a girl to take her clothes off?

"This isn't a joke. I wish it were. Get in. You'll be much safer."

"No," she whispered.

"You're a stupid girl, Hitomi," Van cursed. Then he clenched his teeth and before she knew it she was slammed directly into the middle of his bed with her head on the cushions. His knee was between her legs and his hands balled into fists on either side of her head. "You should listen to me when I warn you, but if this is how it has to be – then so be it."

He bent his head down and kissed Hitomi on the lips. She was nervous, but she pushed her tongue between her lips and tried to search Van's mouth for his fangs. Maybe she had imagined his long sharp teeth. She had to confirm it one more time. But she felt little more than the wetness of his mouth before she disappeared into one of her visions.

There was a warm wet wind blowing across her face and down the sweaty expanse of her chest. She was kneeling on the stones of a tower balcony. It looked out onto the sea and the starry night sky. Her hands and lips were drenched in blood and red swollen tears streamed from her eyes freely. Dizzy, her mind was spinning and her senses whirling as though she couldn't understand what had just happened.

Van lay dead in front of her, his blood splashed and staining the dark stones of the balcony. He was practically hacked to bits in front of her. He was missing fingers and one of his eyes had been gouged. There was an arrow through his shoulder and two knives protruding from his chest.

He had fought so hard to protect her, his twin double-edged swords lay still and wet with blood beside him, but now the violence was over it was quiet and Hitomi could hear the faint chirping of birds.

Her lip was trembling and the anger that boiled in her system could not be quenched. Those bastards! Nothing could stop her now. No one could take Van away from her. Damn them! Damn everyone!

She wrenched one of the knives from Van's chest free and heard one of his ribs crack in the process. Bending down, she kissed the bloody gash.

"I love you so much," she whined, her voice broken. "You can't die like this. I'll give you a different ending."

With that, she took the knife and put it to her own throat, slitting her own throat with such violence that she managed to drag the blade all the way to the other side.

The last thing Hitomi heard was a howl. A man was screaming himself hoarse. What had she done to herself?

Hitomi couldn't stand it, even though she was returning to Van's bed. The vicious pain uncoiling in her stomach was something she couldn't handle. Something she had never been able to handle.

She kissed Van harder and accepted oblivion with pleasure.

* * *

Van waited until he was positive that Hitomi was out cold. Then he pulled away from her and started unbuttoning her shirt.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, realizing that she couldn't hear him. "I didn't want to do this. Why didn't you just do what I told you to?"

It was an ordinary white shirt, with buttons up the front and short sleeves. Van picked her up slightly to take it off the rest of the way. This was horrible for him – almost torture. Luckily, she was wearing a white spaghetti-strap tank top underneath, so he didn't even feel like her modesty was being challenged. She was definitely a good girl.

Van sighed. Even though she was well dressed, he had to hurry, before he lost his mind.

He moved to her feet and quickly removed her shoes and socks. This was easy; a really good break between her shirt and her pants. His fingers trembled slightly as he unzipped her pants.

Now he was starting to curse her. Why couldn't she have just done what he told her to do without complaint? Putting him in this awkward position, was it really to be born?

Soon, he was carrying her over to the tub. The water wasn't warm. He hoped it wouldn't wake her up. He set her down in the water, soaking the sleeves of his shirt in the process. He rested her head on a rolled up towel (the same one he had used) and let her sink to the bottom.

Then he went to his dresser and pulled out a bottle of grenadine from his stash. Luckily, there were so many bottles that losing one wouldn't be such a big deal. It couldn't be. He took the bottle and unscrewing the top, emptied it into the tub.

He could still smell her.

He frowned and opened bottle number two. That, he also poured into the tub.

He could still smell her.

Opening bottle number three, he took a swig of the red liquid. It eased him more than he imagined. Downing the entire bottle, he finally felt satiated enough to change his dripping shirt.

Pretending Hitomi wasn't there; he opened another bottle and lay down on the bed. It had been a long time since he'd gone on a binge like this. Usually Folken took better care of him, but it wasn't his fault she had shown up at exactly the wrong time.

It wasn't long after that, that the door cracked open.

"Van," came Folken's gentle voice.

"I'm here," Van said, rushing to the door. "Hitomi's asleep."

"In your tub?" Folken shook his head sadly. "That bad, eh? I'm sorry."

"Don't you dare pity me."

"Who said anything about pitying you? I feel sorry for her. When will you learn and set yourself up like me?"

"Merle would never forgive me."

"Whatever. You don't have to repeat my mistakes." He handed Van a heavy plastic bag through the crack. "The donator is gone now, so you don't have to stay in here."

Van unplugged the cork and began to drink ravenously. It was cold, but Van didn't give a damn – at least it wasn't congealed.

"You could say 'thank you'," Folken said humourlessly.

Van forced the liquid from his mouth. "More than that. I'd die without you. You know that."

"Still, I don't get what the difference is. Why is it so much better for you if it's my donator's blood rather than this girl's? They both consent."

Van didn't answer. He just drank. He didn't like to explain the difference to Folken. How could Folken understand? If he lived in a soundproof room and drank the blood that Folken provided in neat little packages, he could pretend that the blood was no different than the grenadine. It didn't come from a real person, not from a living, breathing girl like Hitomi. It was irresponsible, but Van didn't care. He was still content to live in the illusionary world his brother provided … until he found the destiny that he knew was waiting for him.

* * *

When Hitomi finally woke up, she was sickeningly cold and shivering violently in Van's bathtub. The door was open and Folken was sitting in a chair watching her.

She screamed.

Then she got her breath and asked more sensibly, "What's happening?"

"You passed out and Van thought you could use a bath."

Hitomi lifted her fingers out of the water. It looked funny – sort of pink. "What's in the water?"

Folken stood up and looked at it. His rouge eyes seemed eerie in the candlelight – the disco ball was off now. He rubbed the back of his neck casually. "Huh, I don't know. Van," he yelled into the living room. "What's in the water?"

Van came in, wiping his hands on a dishtowel. "I put a couple bath bombs in to give it a good scent. Doesn't it smell nice?"

"You _own_ bath bombs?" Hitomi asked disbelievingly. "Aren't you a guy?"

"I'm a bath enthusiast, don't judge me." Then he laughed, and a charming smile lighted up his face. "Dinner is ready. Sorry, Folken and I didn't wait for you wake up. Oh, and I think I spoilt your undergarments. I didn't realize the bath bomb would stain them red." He bonked himself on the head with his knuckles. "That wasn't very considerate of me. But, I've found some of my underwear that I think should fit you. Here's my only white wife-beater and a pair of my briefs. Do you think they'll work for you until you get home?" he asked, and then he regarded her with the sweetest, most serene expression she had ever seen anyone wear.

She just stared at him through the half-light. Was this really the tortured soul she had seen before she passed out?

Now she knew what must have happened. He said that he didn't want to drink her blood, so she should get in the tub, she didn't listen to him, so he kissed her – forcing her to fall unconscious, and then he put her in the tub himself. She clenched her teeth. She hadn't been certain before, but now she was positive – he wasn't a blood drinker. He was just making it up for her amusement. Well, fine. She was perfectly okay with that.

Standing up in the tub, she shook the water off her and pretended that she didn't care if Van or Folken saw her in this vulnerable state. It wasn't that different from a bathing suit anyway.

Folken handed her a towel and she wrapped herself in it.

"I'm sure your clothes will be fine. What's for dinner? I'm starving," she said comfortably. She was never going to be afraid of coming here again. It was all bravo and silliness from the start. She bet Van even told Folken to treat her like that just in case she ever showed up.

"Sushi," Van said with a smile.

Folken smiled roguishly and left the room.

But Van continued talking, "Here's my underwear and here's your clothes, so go ahead and get changed. Do you want to go to a movie tonight? After dinner, we could go see something?"

"Aren't we on the verge of breaking up?" she asked, getting a little irritated. "We still haven't resolved the main issue here. Are you waiting for someone new, or will I do?"

Van leaned against the door, his handsome face looking wan and pale. "I already warned you that I would ruin you, and yet you still wanted to proceed. I tell you I have plans for myself and you want to stop? They are the same thing."

"Not to me," Hitomi wailed, leaning over to dry her legs. "If I end up a mess, I at least want to have you for myself."

"And you won't take an answer like, 'you have me right now, so why do you need more'?"

"No," she said sternly.

He frowned deeply. "Then I guess we really are breaking up."

"Take me home."

* * *

Author's Notes: Thank you everyone for coming to read and to review. And a special thanks to Kaytala who beta read for me. She said that this was confusing, but I promise that none of the description or the dialogue is random - it was all planned very carefully - so it's up to you guys to figure out the mystery wink. My forum is still up if you click on my profile and then my forums. It's called 'Shivering Wings' and we're still on the thread of 'chapters 8-10', so just come right in and post. I'm also thinking of starting a poll on my profile page. So, come check them out. Cheers!


	11. Wounded, Unto Death

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne, but I do own a heck of a lot of this story.

* * *

Chapter Eleven

Wounded, Unto Death

That night, she didn't eat dinner at Folken's. She really did make Van take her home, but before that, she put on his underwear. It was soft and smelled slightly musky – like him. It wasn't a very good joke, but he really wasn't getting them back.

Van borrowed Folken's car to drive her back across the river. Folken's car was a long black Jaguar. Hitomi couldn't figure out why he was walking when he had a car like this parked in the tiny garage out back. Van opened the door for her, but he didn't do it like he was a gentleman. He did it like this was all part of the obligation of being with a girl. Hitomi had the feeling that he would have done the same for Merle.

Once they were alone in the car she tried asking him about the tub again. "Why did you put me in the tub when I was unconscious?"

She heard him huff slightly in the darkness and then he said, "I couldn't stand the way you smelled when I was so hungry. I put you in there so I wouldn't be tempted to bite you. I thought that was already understood."

"The show's over Van. It's okay if you tell the truth," she said quietly.

For a second Van didn't say anything. Then he said indifferently, "I don't care if you don't believe me. Today has been awful timing all around. I wanted to think more after what happened last night, and then you showed up today before I'd sorted myself out. I spoke hastily when I talked about _that _someone else that's been on my mind. That's more like an arranged marriage with someone who may or may not show up. The possibility of that person has always been there, like a shadow hanging over my entire life. I don't usually like to think about it, but when I'm starved, I can't think about anything else. You walked in at the wrong time. I would never have spoken about it with you otherwise."

"So, if this woman showed up, you really would leave me in the lurch no matter how much you liked me?" she asked, getting agitated again.

"Hitomi, I don't actually believe that she'll arrive. It's just something I worry about like a spasm that comes with hunger pains. It would be the job of my girlfriend to drive out my feelings of apprehension and calm me down."

"_You_ need to be calmed down over an arranged marriage?" she asked mockingly.

Van scoffed his reply, "Wouldn't you need to be calmed down if your parent promised you to someone? And the arrangement isn't exactly what you suppose. It's not a marriage."

Hitomi paused and they pulled in the U-shape driveway of the dormitory parking lot. "Okay, so why didn't you say something about this when we were originally getting together?"

"It wasn't important. It isn't now."

"I think it is," she rushed, "when you'd suddenly drop me like a rock, without telling me anything beforehand. I don't want to be second-place."

"It wouldn't be like that, Drama Queen. You're over-reacting," he accused.

Hitomi's hand went to the car door. She opened it slightly so that the interior light came on. "Whatever Van! Forgive me if I seem demanding, but I'd like my boyfriend to be honest with me and I'd like it if he didn't harbour persistent thoughts about other girls."

"Hope you find him," Van said bitingly.

"And … one who tells the truth about weird occurrences when asked!" she yelled, getting out of the car and slamming the door. She didn't look back and stormed up the front walk.

Van popped out of his side of the car and shouted, "Don't be stupid. That's what you like about me!"

Hitomi spun around and glared at him.

He smiled roguishly and got back into the car.

* * *

Even with all those theatrics, Hitomi didn't want to give Van up just like that (actually, she wanted him more than ever), but she couldn't allow herself to be a pushover. Just because he was beautiful, that didn't mean that she had to be his lapdog until whomever he really wanted showed up. That would be the worst ending she could imagine for herself. So, she'd just have to wait and see if she could change his mind. He said he saw her all over campus, well then; let him see her all over campus. She would look dress up cute, look unattainable and she wouldn't let her desire for him near the surface. He wouldn't be able to tell. As a matter of fact, if he wanted to come back – she'd make him beg.

As for the matter of the tub, his smile and easy explanation about liking baths had been enough when she was in the bedroom, but once she was alone – it seemed extremely strange. Everything about his room was strange … yet … she couldn't let herself believe that there was anything that should have acted as a warning flag.

On Monday, Hitomi dressed carefully and walked tall. She curled her hair and wore lipstick and smiled at everyone, making sure she made the best use of her 'innocence'. This way everyone got pleasure from looking at her. A guy even gave her his phone number in the food court during lunch, but Hitomi was certain Van wouldn't have seen that. Whether he ate real food or not didn't matter. That place was a mad house, but it didn't stop her from fantasizing about Van seeing another guy hitting on her.

By Tuesday, her spirits had dwindled a little. She expected him to at least call by now. The previous Saturday, she believed that getting him back wouldn't be that hard and that she wouldn't have a spine if she let him walk all over her. But, in those two days, she hadn't seen him once.

She saw him on Wednesday. He was sitting in the fish bowl of one of the student lounges. He saw her. He even gave her a crooked smile, so she made her way over to his table. Unfortunately, she had to pass by several crowds of people to reach him. By the time she made it there he had already gone. He caught her eye by the exit. His expression was weak, perhaps slightly downcast and then he disappeared.

Hitomi sat down in his empty seat feeling slightly rejected. Maybe he had a class to go to or some other totally acceptable reason why he had to leave without even saying hello to her.

On Thursday, he outright snubbed her … twice. He was on the elevator that headed up to the pub they had been to on their date. It was almost full, but she thought she could scrunch in and stand next to Van, if not eat lunch with him once they reached the top. But he gave her his place in the elevator and let it go up without him. Hitomi went to go have lunch anyway, hoping that he would show up and join her, but he never came.

The second time, she headed directly to his office to talk to him, but as soon as she got there he went into his personal office with a student and shut the door. She was positive that he'd seen her. In the end, Hitomi waited forty-five minutes, but he didn't come out. Merle asked her if she wanted Van to call her, but Hitomi shook her head. She was being stupid. He didn't want to try again with her and what was worse, she had chased him when she planned to make him beg. It was pathetic.

She went back to her dorm room and felt utterly destitute for the rest of the night. Ten o'clock found her watching the end of a Japanese drama with a massive box of tissue, and a small collection of wrappers from the junk food she'd binged on. She was coming unglued. Then she let herself cry. Her poster of Van didn't comfort her either. He was so unrealistically captivating that the darker part of her brain wouldn't stop chanting, "You let HIM go! Idiot!"

The worst thing about all this was that Hitomi was alone nursing her heartbreak. Her laptop was not sufficient company and her collection of shoujo manga only reminded her of Van. She thought of calling her parents, but she knew if she called them when she was like this, they would immediately come see her and that was the last thing she wanted. She just needed to pick up and move on, but it was hard when there was no one except herself to lick her wounds.

When the Friday night of the Occult's Addict meeting rolled around, Hitomi dressed up in her long black dress and prepared herself for what should have been an electric night. It was the meeting before Halloween, so she could dress up. She bathed in apple blossom nectar and did herself up to the nines. She wore her knee-high black boots under her dress and a red ribbon around her neck like a choker tied in a cute bow in the back with the long tails handing to her waist. She tied another red ribbon to her bare wrist and another one around her witch's hat. She let the tails hang long. Inspecting herself in the mirror, she was hugely satisfied by her appearance. Thank goodness for ribbon – inexpensive and glorious. It gave her a sense of being dressed up, and she needed the confidence badly.

A whole week had passed. Even though Van was brushing her off, she still hadn't shaken her feelings for him. She didn't feel burned just because he was good-looking, did she? It wasn't because he was mysterious, was it? There had to be more than that, since she felt so mournful. However, this wasn't the end of their relationship. She was going to try to win him back and tonight was her last try to test it.

Once she was ready to head over to the meeting, she went to the lobby of her dormitory and called for a safe walk. She had promised Van that she would always call for a safe walk at night if he would tell her about vampires. She was sort of putting her belief of that story on hold for the time being. It didn't matter anyway. A promise was a promise … and an excellent way of seeing if he still wanted to see her. He was probably working that night.

But when the safe walk couple arrived, they were two people Hitomi had never seen before.

Pushing her disappointment aside, she smiled at the two students and directed them toward the meditation room. Normally, it was a quiet room that allowed only for absolute stillness, but since the Occult's Addict had rented the room, they would be able to speak, rearrange the furniture, and basically do whatever they wanted, except light candles.

When Hitomi got there, she saw that Celena and Dilandau had worked very hard to make the place extra comfortable and almost black-tie for the hallowed event. The couches and end tables were covered in black linen. In the centre of the room, they had set up a small reflection pool that had eerie turquoise lights shining from underneath the water.

The witches and the two sets of twins had all arrived before her. The women looked like fluttering butterflies as they flittered and fluttered between the buffet table and the couches. There was one by the pool, then at the punch bowl, then back again. Apparently, they had all thought to dress similarly and their ruffles and satin made Hitomi feel like she'd joined the best club on campus.

As Hitomi entered, her arm was immediately taken by Dilandau. He looked incredible in a black tuxedo, but his eyes weren't their usual red. Instead, she found herself looking into golden brown eyes. She was shocked. Brown must be his real eye colour. Good grief, he looked gorgeous.

"I'm glad you came," he said pleasantly as he led her into the room and propelled her towards the buffet table. "I know it is Halloween and I should be trying to scare you, but I'm going to talk about something very personal tonight – almost sacred – and I couldn't bear to turn this into some cheesy event with fake skulls. You know?"

Hitomi nodded as he filled a goblet full of sparkling cider for her.

"You don't drink, do you?" he asked casually.

"Never. Thanks for being sensitive to that."

He handed her the goblet, and their fingers touching briefly. She smiled and coloured slightly. Then suddenly, she was very aware of what Van had said to her before. That if he left, she would end up with Dilandau. She hadn't believed that such a thing was possible. Wasn't Dilandau detestable? But, somehow she didn't see him that way tonight. He had started out being so considerate of her and she was feeling so downtrodden that she wanted to confide in him. In another moment she _was _confiding in him.

"Van and I broke up," she said quietly, taking a sip of her sparkler.

"I know," he said, looking at her plainly. He was definitely not gloating.

"How?"

"Not till a minute ago, when you came in. I thought I would be pleased if I heard that it hadn't worked out, but when I saw your face … I can't even feel one second of delight over your injury. Sorry."

"Don't apologize. I'm the one who should apologize to you for the way he embarrassed you that one night. I don't think he likes you very much."

"That's all right. His kind never does."

Hitomi puzzled over that comment. What did he mean by that? However, she was soon distracted by Dilandau rooting around in his pocket.

"I have a present for you," he said casually.

"What is it?" she asked, a little hopefully.

He was wearing white gloves and he took one of her hands in his and placed something small in her palm.

It was a coin.

"It's for you to toss into the pool. I want you to make a wish in the water, except that what you're wishing in isn't an ordinary pool and that's not an ordinary coin. The witches aren't the only ones who can work magic. Make a wish."

"What kind of wish?" she asked as he ushered her to the pool.

"Any kind of wish will do. You could wish that I wasn't such a jerk, or you could wish that you didn't feel bad about Van, or …" he said with a grand gesture, "You could wish that you were a magical creature and could get full membership in our club instantly."

Hitomi took the coin in her fingers. It was a dime, the smallest of currency. What could she wish for? Dilandau stood beside her patiently while she considered. She wanted to wish that Van would come back to her properly, but it felt wrong to make such a wish with Dilandau's good intentions. Finally, she came up with a wish.

She closed her eyes and kissed the coin. 'I wish,' she thought, 'that I will be able handle the pain of my life and grow into a strong woman.'

Hitomi tossed the coin into the water and opened her eyes to watch it slide back and forth in the water before finally resting on the bottom.

"Thank you," she said to Dilandau. "I feel relieved."

He nodded and took her over to a seat on one of the covered couches. Then he went to the front and began to lead the activity.

"Welcome to our Hallows' Eve celebration," he said in a grand voice, like he was used to making public addresses. "Tonight, as all of you know, Celena and I are going to share our experience – how we got our scars. The theme of the evening will be 'Near Death Experiences'."

Hitomi's throat tightened.

"Come on, dear sister," Dilandau said, reaching for Celena, who immediately rushed to the front..

Tonight, she was wearing a Chinese gown that was primarily silver with purple blossoms strewn across it.

Hitomi had not seen Dilandau and Celena within such a close proximity of each other since that first time she came to the Occult's Addict's office. They had seemed close then, but Hitomi didn't realize how close they actually were until this moment. Celena and Dilandau kissed each other's cheeks. Hitomi squinted. That was something she saw in movies, but nothing she had ever seen in real life before. Was it possible for siblings to feel that strongly about each other? Then another idea hit her. Could Dilandau really be a bad guy if Celena was so fond of him? She remembered that time she wanted to apologize to Celena for Van's bad behaviour – Dilandau wouldn't let her. He acted like it was because she'd already forgotten about it, but what if that wasn't the case? What if she actually felt torn up and humiliated and Hitomi was the last person in the world she wanted to comfort her? Maybe Dilandau knew her well enough to protect her – even from the small things.

Hitomi took another drink and exhaled in exasperation. Why had Van been so right about her? Why did she suddenly feel like going to Dilandau for friendship when a friendship with him could only lead to a love affair? She hated herself for being so easy to read and for having such a flippant mind. Didn't she really care about Van? Didn't she want to fight hard to get him back? She looked down at her finery. Van hadn't walked her that evening - all this finery for nothing. Now she didn't believe he would come back, not after she had been snubbed four times.

Celena started speaking. "When Dilandau and I were fifteen, we went to an amusement park for our birthday. We went with a bunch of our friends and made a day of it. We rode the rollercoaster, hung upside down on the pendulum, got nauseated on the zipper, played carnival games, and made ourselves sick on junk food with all our friends. Except there was one ride called the Spiral Bubble that the park was planning on introducing, but wasn't operational that day. We watched them test it over and over again all day. Dilandau wanted to ride it so badly. We watched the trial runs and he kept saying, 'It's fine. It works. Why won't they let us ride it?' Well, any of you who really know my brother know that he's basically a genius who understands everything, including mechanics and locksmithing. So, later that night, we did something really stupid."

Her narrative so far had been unbroken and said with grace and even a little flare, but at this part of the story, she had to pause to prepare herself for what she would say.

"We snuck into the park after hours to see if we could get the ride operational ourselves. It was a different time and there weren't digital passkeys or all night security guards. The surveillance cameras were few and scattered. Dilandau had already figured out where all of them were while we played during the day and they were easy to miss, so even after everything was over, they didn't have any footage of how we got in. It was easy, really easy - too easy. Dilandau brought his friend Miguel and he helped us hike over the fence and squish in between the barbed wire without any trouble. It took them a few hours to open both the control booth and turn the ride on. Once they did, Dilandau did a couple trial runs of his own. Then he showed Miguel how to operate it and he went first – by himself. Nothing went wrong, so he let Miguel and I ride it. Heck, we must have ridden it twenty times before something went wrong. The ride was made so that two people got into a pod and sat back to back, and then it went around in a spiral going upwards before falling down a centrepiece. There were parts of the individual cockpits that looked like bubbles, but I have to stress that most of it was open to the air and there was only one bar keeping you in place. Afterwards, they said that the ride's restraints broke at exactly the wrong time – the worst possible moment. Dilandau and I were riding while Miguel operated it and they came loose at the very top of the precipice, right before it turned to go down again. We came off at an angle with one wheel hanging onto the rail and at first we just hung upside down for a few seconds. The hinge broke and we slid back down the spiral. We scraped our hips on the rails and then our sides when we hit the pavement. Not just our sides, but our elbows and arms, too. It wouldn't have been worse than that except that Dilandau's half hit a nearby trailer."

Dilandau put his hand on her shoulder. She hadn't exactly started crying, but tears were forming in her eyes.

She took his hand, kissed it like she was grateful just to touch him, and continued, "Miguel called for the ambulance. It was lucky that he was there, but I suffered the most tortured hours of my life as we waited for the ambulance and waited for the doctor's opinion. I cried out to him over and over while Miguel tried to pry me from my chair. Miguel is an excellent man," she mumbled. "And I was very hurt. They were scraping bits of gravel out of my skin all that night, and Dilandau was in a coma. I suffered like that for weeks…" her voice broke off in a sorrowful strain.

"That's enough," Dilandau said gently. "I'll take over from there."

He led her over to Eriya, who took her in her arms and let Celena rest her head on her lap and put her feet up on the empty part of the couch.

Hitomi stared. She had never had friends like these.

Dilandau went back to the front, so that the turquoise pool was casting coloured light onto his face. When he spoke, he sounded infinitely eloquent, "I had never been afraid of dying. The idea of dying had never entered my head. I had always taken it for granted that I would live forever. Hitomi asked me last week what I believe in. I told her that I believe in the afterlife, because I have seen it. I know that what I saw back then was not the imagination of my mind or a dream I had while I was unconscious. The place I saw was a black palace, a place just beyond the blackness of your own eyelids – if you could only strain yourself to see it. But lucky for me, it wasn't my soul's final resting place. A person has to go beyond those rooms, into their own. However, back at the black palace, it's true, you do see a reflection of your whole life and I learned things about myself that I had never guessed. I saw myself through my mother's eyes, through Celena's eyes, through the doctor's eyes. I was an idiot. The fact that I was smart enough to get the Spiral Bubble working, but not smart enough to realize that I shouldn't get it working was horribly painful. I saw Celena and what I had done to her – my sweet twin sister. My body meant nothing compared to hers."

He turned his back on the girls and got himself a drink from the punch bowl. Everyone waited patiently. He was more emotional than usual and for once Hitomi saw that this was awkward for him because what happened to him was an experience that his mind would have rejected, if he had not gone through it himself.

He came back and went on, "I met someone there. It was a man with long shining hair and red eyes (hence, my affection for red eyes). I would have died. I should have died, but he sent me back here. I'll go back some day and he'll be waiting for me."

That marked the end of Dilandau's story. He didn't seem inclined to say more, though Hitomi suspected there was more to the story that he wasn't willing to share.

"Does anyone else have a near-death experience?" he asked, inquiring of the whole group.

Hitomi put up her hand before she realized what she was doing. She never told anyone this story. It was none of their business, but she had also never met a person who had been something similar to what she had. She wanted to talk about this more with Dilandau and she wanted to be close with these people. If she didn't confide in them, how could she ever be close to them?

She got up and took Dilandau's place looking out on the couches and the beautiful women strewn across them. Dilandau took her place and waited for her to start.

She fumbled with her fingers and tried to find the right words. She wanted to be as graceful as Dilandau and as beautiful as Celena. Taking off her witch's hat, she began, "You may not believe me, but … I don't have any memories before I was thirteen. There was an accident. Well, not exactly." She paused, searching for her voice and the way to make her feelings from her story ring true. "I've been told that something was wrong with me before that. Something was bothering me – haunting me – and I wouldn't talk about it with anyone. They tell me I was completely withdrawn. My memories begin when I woke up in the psych ward of the city hospital. I was on suicide watch. I couldn't remember a thing, but one thing was for sure – I no longer had any wish to harm myself. They showed me the note I had written to my mother. I wrote that she didn't love me enough to save me, and that no one did. I said that my life was unbearable. I wanted escape and this was the only way." She paused and consciously dislocated herself from the person she was talking about, so she shed no tears. "I had thrown myself off a train bridge into an overflowing river. I was taken over a kilometre downstream before some campers saw me and rescued me. No one knew how I survived. To this day, it is still a mystery. The current was fast. It was lucky those campers knew C.P.R." She tried to laugh, but it didn't work. "It turns out that I have no memories like Dilandau. I didn't see a palace or talk to anyone who seemed remotely benevolent. I just woke up like a baby and looked into my parents' eyes like they were strangers. That was when my life began. Several of my extended family members thought I was joking when I said that I didn't remember. Maybe I was being bullied. Whatever happened has been kept a secret from me. I never got the chance to ask anyone in my school class because my parents moved us to a small town a little over a month later. I spent most of that month in the hospital."

Hitomi looked up and took a look around the room. The beautiful witches were listening very carefully. Millerna even had a hand to her mouth in distress. Naria and Eriya listened politely. Celena was sitting up and leaning forward to catch every one of Hitomi's words, like it was very important that she didn't miss any of it.

Hitomi wasn't going to look at Dilandau, but her head turned unconsciously towards him. He was smiling. She did a double take. He looked satisfied, like the last piece of a puzzle had just fallen into place. Puzzled, she stopped forgot about continuing and just stared at him.

"Sorry," he said, raising his eyebrows and touching a hand to his chest. "I was just thinking about how long I've waited to meet someone who's been through a similar experience as me. It was obviously so painful for you that I shouldn't be this happy. I apologize. Continue. I want to hear the rest of your story."

"You're always such a clod, Dilandau," Celena said heartlessly from the other side of the room. "Treat her experience with the same respect she treated yours. She's only sharing this because of you. Be sympathetic."

"I was trying," he said before his face went blank and he motioned for Hitomi to go on.

She was ruffled by the interruption and it took her a second to find her place in the story. "Whatever lesson I was trying to teach my mother by trying to kill myself, she learned it, and I was hardly ever alone after that incident. Being here at university has been my first time to enjoy the quiet peace that comes from just sitting alone. It took a lot to convince her to let me live here in the dorms, but I would have gone crazy if I'd stayed with my parents another minute. Unless you've lived it, there's no way you can understand how they watched me for any sign of self-hate. I've been on suicide watch for five years, not three weeks. I still don't know what I suffered back then to make me want to take my life. It's still a mystery. Of all the things I want to learn in this life, what made me hate myself is not one of them."

There, Hitomi had said all she could stand to. She went back to her seat, and Dilandau took her hands in his. As he looked at her, his lovely brown eyes swelled with sudden compassion.

"I really do know something of how you must have felt. I feel privileged to know you. We will have to have a conversation someday, about how I was treated by my family after I got out of the hospital. I think we probably had similar experiences."

He pulled her head close and let her rest it on his shoulder. She felt the comfort of someone who knows the same thing you know – has suffered through the same thing. Her eyelids fell shut and she simply enjoyed the warmth of his arm. Finally, someone was there for her.

"I knew it was you," he said gently.

* * *

Author's Notes: Thanks to Kaytala for working with me on this. I have seriously been working my butt off on this story and have work done all the way to chapter 14, so all those people who have been reviewing and posting on my forum - this is all for you my lovelies. Every time I get a comment, I get reminded to get to work. If I haven't responded, it's cause I go write instead. There's a poll on my profile page for voters to vote on whether or not they think Van is sexy in this story, so please go vote. And I'll be opening a new topic thread on 'Shivering Wings' my Escaflowne forum, which is still available only through my profile page. It should be open before this is posted, so please come! LOVE! LOVE! This is really coming together.


	12. Brown Night, Red Morning

Disclaimer: I don't own Esaflowne, but this sure is fun, eh?

* * *

**Chapter Twelve**

**Black Night, Red Morning**

Later that same night, Van lay on the couch in Folken's living room and pretended he was trying to fall asleep. He stared at the ceiling and stretched his arms over his head. He felt like crap. He'd called in sick for work that night and sent Merle to take his place. Yeah, he felt like a loser when he ran out on his responsibilities.

But he couldn't go out tonight, not when he knew that it was the evening of the Occult's Addict's weekly meeting. Hitomi might call for a safe walk and he couldn't be there when she did. He couldn't look at her.

Lately, he saw her everywhere. He hated giving her the slip, but he felt like he had no choice. Didn't she deserve a chance to get him out of her system since she broke up with him? However, it was harder to do in real life than he thought in his head. She was always walking down the hall or crossing quad at the exact same time he was. Trying to avoid her was turning into a game of cat and mouse for him. She wasn't trying to hunt him down … right? _She_ dumped _him_, right? Well, whatever her goals, she was definitely making him uncomfortable. She always looked so lovely, too. How was he supposed to leave her alone?

Why was he doing this to himself? What was he waiting for?

Just then Folken came into the living room carrying the cordless phone. "Raidne's on the phone for you."

Van flopped onto the floor and glowered at his brother. "I don't want to talk to her."

"He says he doesn't want to talk to you," Folken said into the receiver. "Okay, I'll tell him," he said after a pause. Then he said to Van, "She says if you won't talk to her, she'll dislocate both your shoulders the next time she sees you."

"So what?" Van spat, his face in the carpet. "She's already planning on breaking both my knees, my third and fourth ribs and my left wrist."

Folken listened intently to Raidne as she spoke. Then he announced cheerfully, "She says she'll forgive all those other injuries if you talk to her."

Van jumped up. "Give me the phone! Raidne," he said snatching the receiver from Folken.

The female voice that sounded through the speaker was like milk and butter – perfectly pitched and perfectly smooth. "I said nothing of the sort," she said pleasantly, "but now I won't dislocate your shoulders. That should make you happy. However, I'm displeased with your familiar greeting. Call me by my title."

"But …" Van stuttered, giving Folken a dirty look.

He shrugged his shoulders and left the room like he didn't care how their quarrel ended.

"Folken doesn't have to call you that," Van continued in his defence.

"When you're as old as Folken, you can call me by my first name. Until then, I expect you to do as you are told. Let me hear it."

"Mother," he said, relenting. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Folken told me you had a girl in your tub last week. You didn't bite her. Why not? You're too old to take Folken's hand-outs. Where's your pride?"

Van breathed and said the only excuse he had in the wings, except his voice was small and strained, "What about what you told me when I was little?"

She hesitated. "Are you talking about those bites marks on your neck?"

"Yeah," he said softly.

"All right, I see your problem," she said, yielding a little. "But let me ask you one question. How are you going to live if you don't get up a clientele like Folken? Isn't that the bottom line? You vomit after eating raw fish still, don't you? You get ill smelling Merle's meal. I know she still eats on the third floor. You're making Folken work twice as hard and for what? You're a grown man. Frankly, I'm beginning to be ashamed of you. You weren't like this when you were a boy."

"I hate myself when I think of it," Van said softly.

"That's why this is a curse. You think this is supposed to be fun? You think we are allowed to live like normal people? Van, I've had enough of this. You have to get at least one donor for yourself by the end of the year, or I'll order Folken to cut you off entirely, and I'll come and take you home with me. Would you like that? Do you want to be a murderer instead of just a monster? Sing for your supper like your brother, or kill for your supper like your mother. Do you understand me?"

Van swallowed. He couldn't bear to answer.

"Do you understand me?" she repeated in an icy tone.

"I understand," he whispered.

"I hate it when you act weak, Van. You're supposed to be the strongest of all of us. You're supposed to be the one to save us."

"You're such a hypocrite," he bit. "How am I supposed to be there for her when she gets here if I've already tainted my fangs on another?"

"She understands all that. Don't kid yourself. She has bloodied her hands in ways you can't imagine."

He snorted.

"I'll be up in December to check on you."

"… How should I start?"

"Obviously, with that girl who was in your room last week."

Van was going to regret what he planned to say next, but he had to say it. If he left it out of his argument, that wouldn't help him. "What if I care about her? What if I care too much to think of her as my next meal?"

Raidne sniffed. "Are you sure she's not our girl?"

Van tightened his grip on the receiver. He had never thought of that. What if Hitomi was the one he was waiting for?

* * *

After Hitomi shared her story at the Occult's Addict meeting, everyone talked freely of the strange things that had happened to them in their lives, involving death and not involving death. Mostly, they were stories that everyone knew except for Hitomi. These people had been friends a long time, but they were willing to welcome her into their circle, and she heard many things that made her smile even though she felt dead inside.

She didn't know why, but being dressed in her black dress, the one she hoped Van would admire her in, made her feel doubly depressed, even without the reminder of what an incomplete person she was. She felt cold and empty inside. If only she could find some way to fill herself up.

Towards the end of the evening, Dilandau sat alone with her on one of the couches. "Earlier, I gave you that coin; will you tell me what you wished for?"

"Doesn't that ruin the wish's effectiveness?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No. You have to tell me your wish if you want it to come true."

"So, you're the one who really grants the wishes, like Santa Claus."

Dilandau laughed. "I am nothing like Santa Claus, but I would grant one of your wishes if you wanted me to. Tell me. What did you wish for? Van?"

"No," she said, sighing. "He doesn't really want me. I think he wants some rare glorious love that an innocent little thing like me couldn't really participate in."

Dilandau was silent for a moment. Then he lifted the tails of the crimson ribbon attached to her wrist and laced them between his fingers. "At a time like this, I always say the wrong thing. I can't seem to help it, and I have to take extra care if I'm going to win you over this time."

"What would you normally say?" she asked slyly.

He groaned. "I know this is a trap you're holding open for me. I'm not going to fall in. We both know my blunt tongue can't refrain from saying the wicked things that go through my mind. But, this time, I'll escape your claws."

"How will you do that?"

"By changing the subject, of course. I'll ask you for a favour," he said, smiling slightly.

"A favour? Like what?"

"Can I walk you back to your dorm tonight? Don't call for a safe walk. Let me take you."

Van had already let Hitomi walk with other people once, so what would stop him from doing it again? She would rather have Dilandau's warm arm to lean on than no one, so she smiled and nodded to him.

"I don't know why you're suddenly so patient with me," she said. "Aren't I a brat?"

"The worst kind, but … I can't keep my eyes off you. So, I'll put up with your crap."

Then, without warning, Dilandau leaned towards her and kissed the corner of her mouth.

Hitomi didn't black out, but she jumped a little and stared at him.

"Did I do something wrong?" he asked. His eyes looked genuinely concerned. "I didn't mean …"

Hitomi couldn't listen to him. She was staring at his face. He looked so gentle and worried about her. In the mirror of his eyes, she looked far more hurt than she had admitted. She was overwhelmed with feelings of loneliness and depression. Being in this beautiful dress, she didn't realize how much she wanted someone to touch her, someone to admire her, and in truth, someone to want her. She told everyone she enjoyed being by herself, just like she told herself that, but the truth was – she hadn't been alone or allowed to have a boyfriend for five years. Her parents hadn't allowed it. Now that she was away from home and supposed to be an adult, she just wanted someone's hands on her. She felt deserted by Van. So much so that she just wanted someone to want her. She didn't know if it even mattered who and here was Dilandau, suddenly completely at her beck-and-call. She wasn't experienced enough to know that these things did not mix well.

"Kiss me again," she said, hunger and excitement glowing in her face.

Dilandau narrowed his brown eyes and examined her expression. Then he leaned in and said, "Should I? I know that this isn't a good time for the two of us to get together. You're too vulnerable for words, and unfortunately for you, I'm not really the type to lay off because of that. I'll take you as far as you want to go, but I'll stop respectfully when you ask. I don't want you to have any regrets."

"I won't have regrets," Hitomi said, throwing her unrequited love for Van carelessly out the window and focussing on Dilandau's safe, soft brown eyes instead.

"That's all well and good, but I still have to warn you. If you want to do this sort of thing with me tonight, you can't blow me off in the morning. It doesn't work like that with me. I won't be your 'one night stand'. You're a good girl and you wouldn't do that to me, right?"

"No, I wouldn't," she said, remembering that she _was_ a good girl. Everyone always told her that. It must be true, if they all said it, so it was all right to promise that she wouldn't use him.

"And you're still fine with that?" he asked, searching her eyes.

"Yeah," she mouthed. She was sick of this already. She didn't want to hear his warning. She just wanted to be kissed. She wanted to be kissed for hours without fear of fainting. Her mind began reeling at the possibility of what she could do with Dilandau that had never been possible with Van.

She nodded again.

"Then? My place or yours?" he asked smoothly.

"Mine's closer."

"Excellent."

Dilandau took her hand and led her to the door.

* * *

Hitomi and Dilandau walked with their arms around each other to Hitomi's dormitory. The air was cold and their breath spread like steam into the fridged late Autumn air.

Neither of them said anything. The silence between them was comfortable and so easy. She felt excited about what would happen once they were alone, but for the time being she was comforted. Finally, she felt desirable and wanted, like she had something to offer someone.

However, there was a tiny part of her that wanted Van to somehow see them and go insane with jealousy. But there was no point in wishing for things like that. He was busy, wasn't he? Didn't he have all these plans that she was simply interfering with? Stupid.

When they entered the dorm room, Dilandau's fingers eased around Hitomi's throat and he helped her take her coat off. He found a hanger in the closet and hung it up along with his coat. He sat her down on her computer chair and lifting her ankles, unzipped her boots. He put them on the mat by the door so that the few snowflakes wouldn't melt into the carpet.

By the time he was unlacing his own shoes, Hitomi was horribly exasperated. "I'm dying here," she said.

"I know," he whispered, "but this has never happened for me before, so I have to take it slow and enjoy it."

"You've never been invited into a girl's dorm room before."

He smiled, but said nothing.

Finally, he stood in front of her and undid his bowtie and the first three buttons down his shirt. "I have my theories about how this is going to work. Let me know if it gets too scary for you."

Hitomi stared at him. What was he talking about?

He knelt in front of her and looked into her eyes like he was preparing to do something amazing and then … he did.

Dilandau's kiss wasn't like Van's. His breath wasn't as hot and his mouth had a much different flavour. Kissing Van was like swallowing blood, while kissing Dilandau was like kissing ice. His fingers and mouth were still cold from being outside. Those icy fingers were in her hair and resting on her waist.

"Don't pass out," he whispered after a few seconds. "Hang onto me."

She put her arms around his shoulders and scooted herself off the chair and into his lap. Maybe she could warm him up. Parting her lips, she accepted Dilandau's kiss, because she really wanted it. She really wanted to feel loved, to feel accepted by someone, to feel … whole. Her whole life had been emptiness – wondering what tragic soul she had begun as, and when Dilandau held her – she felt like she was getting closer to understanding herself.

Then it happened.

She didn't understand. She wasn't kissing Van. Wasn't this something that only happened when she kissed Van?

Blackness consumed her.

Where was she now?

Hitomi laid in a bed, in a large beautiful bed, four sizes larger than any she'd ever seen before. The bed sheets and covers were silky black, just like the entire room she was in. It wasn't like the black of Van's room. Van's room was just in shadow. In this room the walls were made of onyx, the ceiling vaulted black marble, and the intricately carved frame was heavy ebony.

Then a man came into the room. She couldn't see his face, or hear his voice though he was talking to her. The only thing she could see was his torso, half–naked, he exposed the whitest, most beautifully chiselled body she had ever imagined.

Hitomi didn't like the way he was talking to her and she felt her mouth curve into a hateful line. Soon, they were arguing and she was yelling and cursing like a cornered animal. She was throwing pillows at him while he laughed, so she hurled a glass vase at him and dared him to laugh again.

She hated this man more than anything. She hated everything about him; his good looks, his voice, his thoughts, but more than anything, she hated the power he had over her.

He caught the vase in an open palm, the flowers and water falling behind him and splashing on the floor. He bounced the vase in his palm, pondering. Then abruptly, he deliberately smashed it on the floor. It broke into thousands of shining shards that reflected like stars on the black marble flooring. Then he did something strange. He trod over the broken glass, barefoot. The sound of his flesh on the glass grated her nerves until she thought she could feel his pain in the soles of her feet. How could he do that to himself? He bent and retrieved one of the fallen flowers. It was a white flower with six pointed petals and a little cup in the centre almost like a daffodil.

Then she heard his voice, deep and slightly echoing through the large chamber. "Do you know what this flower is, my love?" he asked languidly. "It's a white narcissus. Do you know what it symbolizes?"

She did know, but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of obeying him, even if it was simply to answer his question, so she stayed silent.

"It means selfishness," he answered his own question and offered her the flower.

She knocked his hand away.

His mouth curved into a half smiled; half intrigue, half hate. Then he violently pushed her back onto the bed, coming down on top of her, and the blackness consumed her again.

* * *

Van paced his bedroom for hours that night. He had to find the answer to Raidne's question. He didn't think it at all ridiculous, and indeed, he was wondering why he hadn't thought of it himself.

His mind was not whole and his memories blotched. He put his fingers to the first set of bite marks on his neck. His memory of the first time was fuzzy. Never in his whole life had he been good at differentiating between the first time and the second time. Raidne told him it was because less time had passed since the second time, so it was fresher in his memory.

The second time he met her she had long curling red hair. For some reason he always thought that was the way she would always look. But, when Raidne asked him so bluntly – his mind took a turn. Why did she have to have red hair? Why couldn't she look like anything – anyone? Why couldn't she look like Hitomi?

When Van thought that, his heart began pounding. He was too excited. He needed to calm down.

He looked at his clock. It was four o'clock. He couldn't call Hitomi now. He'd have to wait until morning. But blast, morning was taking a long time coming.

* * *

The next morning, Hitomi woke up with a man's arm draped over her shoulder. Her hands immediately checked her body to see what had been done to her while she was asleep. Like Van, Dilandau had left her in her clothing. Except that Dilandau was there the morning after when Van had left her high and dry.

Her blankets were wrapped around both of them. Waking up with a man in her bed should have been the craziest thing that ever happened to her, but she felt nothing. No regret. Not sorry she had jumped into something strange with Dilandau. Not sorry she had not kept her promise to Van. She felt nothing like that. The only thing she did feel was grateful that Dilandau had not left. His body was very warm in bed with her.

"Thanks," she mumbled, moved almost to tears, but she didn't know if he could hear her.

She thought he was asleep, but he answered, mumbling, "It was nothing. I wanted to stay. But it feels so early. Go back to sleep."

She rolled over and kissed a pattern down the side of his face.

Dilandau smiled and, keeping his eyes closed, said, "I've died and gone to Heaven."

He moved to kiss her, but she evaded him. "I don't want to pass out again," she explained.

"Did you dream?" he asked, still keeping his eyes closed.

"Yeah, I did."

"What vision did you see?"

She paused before answering. More than any of her other visions, this last one really confused her. "I don't know. There was a man. He was controlling and …"

Suddenly, the chime of Hitomi's cell phone rang.

"Ignore it," Dilandau advised, intertwining their fingers.

"No. I've got to get it. If I don't, and it's my mom, she'll think I was at a man's for the night."

Dilandau let her go. "Well, we wouldn't want her to think that."

Hitomi picked up the phone on the fourth ring without checking the caller. "Hi, this is Hitomi," she said cheerfully, trying to pretend she hadn't just been half asleep.

"It's me," a melancholy male voice said. Hitomi's heart skipped a beat. It could only be Van. "I need to see you," he said.

Hitomi gaped and turned her back on Dilandau. "What?"

"I changed my mind. I want to see you. I can't stand being away from you. I'll tell you everything you want to know about me, so please, come back."

"I … I …" she stuttered, not knowing how to answer. She hadn't even done anything much and now Van was literally begging. Regret she hadn't known she could feel stung her heart. If she'd only waited eight more hours … "I …"

"I know I acted badly. I'll stop being a jack ass. Please, just give me one more chance," he pleaded.

"I don't know," she said, turning around to look at Dilandau.

He was standing in front of her, and his golden brown eyes were gone. In their places, his eyes were now the colour of the most recently shed blood – almost shining.

Dilandau took the phone from the stunned Hitomi and began speaking, "So sorry Van. I'm here. She'll have to call you back. You know, you shouldn't call so early in the morning. It's rude. Good bye," he said and he pressed the 'end call' button. He handed the phone back to Hitomi and went back to bed.

* * *

Author's Notes - Welcome Everyone. Thanks for coming to read and REVIEW. REVIEW. REVIEW. I like reviews. Anyway, much love to Kaytala for working with me on this chapter. I made some changes after she looked at it, so hopefully, there isn't anything too embarrassing. My forum is available through my profile page. It's called 'Shivering Wings', so everyone's welcome there. And there's a poll up on my profile to people to vote on whether or not they think Van's sexy in this. So go vote! LOVE!


	13. Flesh Eaters, Blood Drinkers

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne.

* * *

**Chapter 13**

**Flesh Eaters, Blood Drinkers**

Dilandau plopped down on the bed and pulled the covers over himself. "Are you coming?" he asked, looking at Hitomi expectantly, his red irises flashing wickedly.

Hitomi swallowed.

She couldn't complain that he had just hung up on Van. He warned her that this would happen. She couldn't pretend like nothing had happened between them in the morning. Dilandau offered her his company and since she wanted a romance, she couldn't go back on him now. That was the trade-off.

Hitomi hesitated for a second as she considered before she got into bed with him.

"Good girl," he said, taking her hand and kissing her palm. He wrapped the blankets around her and held her close.

"Dilandau," she said, working with the situation she found herself in. "What happened to your eyes? Why are you wearing your red contacts first thing in the morning?"

He opened his eyes wide, so she could see them more closely. "I was wearing my brown contacts last night. I took them out last night after I put you to bed. They were part of my 'costume'."

Hitomi inspected his eyes and sure enough, he was not wearing contact lenses of any kind. It was just like Van said. His eyes were naturally red.

"What do you mean 'costume'?" she asked.

"Well, they were brown before my accident. It's only been since then that they've turned red."

"I've never heard of anything like that before. Do you know why it happened?"

"Yes," he said lingeringly, almost smiling.

"Well, why didn't you talk about it last night? Everyone would have been really interested."

He chuckled. "You're right. They would have loved to hear about it, but some things are better left private, you know?"

"So, you won't tell me now?"

"I guess that depends. Did Van tell you what he is? Did he confess to being a vampire?"

"No. He keeps saying he isn't one," she admitted.

"Interesting … and he let you go. He's a slow one, isn't he? I've met him before. Did he tell you that?"

"No," Hitomi said, getting interested.

"Huh … Maybe he doesn't remember. It was a really funny thing. I knew him immediately on sight, but I didn't know you," Dilandau said, pretending to bite her wrist.

Hitomi squirmed, moving out of his grasp. "Wait. Wait. What do you mean? You've met Van and me before?"

He nodded. "One glance at that miserable son of a bitch and I feel the hair on the back of my neck rising."

Hitomi gawked. She had no idea Dilandau disliked Van to that extent. Right at that moment, she didn't feel comfortable talking about Van. She didn't want to hear what other bad things Dilandau might think about him, so she changed the topic onto the two of them instead. "Have you and I met before? Did you know me before I was thirteen?" she questioned eagerly.

He shook his head slightly. "I don't know how to answer that question. It's too specific. It's not that simple."

She sighed in exasperation. "Did we meet before I came to the Occult's Addict office?" she asked, searching for the proper way to question him. Sometimes the way Dilandau operated was simply infuriating.

"Yes," he said definitely.

"At school?"

"No."

"I have no idea where I've been. Where did we meet?"

"At your parents' place."

"Would they remember you if I called them?"

"I've never met your parents," he answered quizzically. "They wouldn't have any idea who I was."

"Did I invite you over?"

"No. We'd never met before," he said, laughing. He was clearly playing with her.

She shook her head. She wasn't going to get anywhere talking to him like this. "What about Van?" she asked, taking a deep breath and preparing herself for the useless answers he would give her or the horrible things he would say. "Were you really investigating him as a vampire if you already knew him?"

"Well, I definitely wanted to investigate him. I recognized him and I wanted to know more about him. So, I took pictures and he looked like a vamp with those three bite marks down his neck."

"Do you think he's a vampire?"

"No. I said, I think he has a girlfriend with a vampire fetish. I still think that. Maybe he's done with her, since he's been hanging around you, but no, I don't think he's a vampire."

Hitomi stayed silent and snuggled into Dilandau's arms and tried to think. She remembered her dream when she drank Van's blood. That dream, though dark and twisted, did not inspire the same feelings that arose in her when Dilandau kissed her. When Van kissed her, she felt love – agonizing love – but love just the same. When Dilandau kissed her, she felt the sting of resentment. It was so strange. Logically, Dilandau was a better match for her. He was reliable and gentle and … he didn't tell her to shut up. Despite Van's sexuality and the pull she felt towards him, she felt like she would be being a tad too stupid to head back towards him now when she was somewhere warm and comfortable.

She refused to feel guilty about what she had done in betraying her promise to Van. Dilandau's clumsy, but well meant, attentions were better than Van's reckless ways, weren't they? After all, Dilandau stayed the night and held her like she was a treasure. No, she wouldn't feel guilty. She would throw Van off and enjoy a gentler romance with Dilandau.

"Is it okay if we go slow in our relationship? You aren't going to ask me to jump into bed with you, are you?" she asked quietly.

"Darling, you are already in bed with me," he countered pleasantly.

She huffed – totally annoyed at his joking.

"I know what you mean," he said, pulling her head close and kissing her temple. "I don't want to mess things up with you, so we can go as slow as you want. Just try to be considerate of my feelings and don't take too long."

"What's your idea of 'too long'?" she asked, getting anxious.

He opened his eyes suddenly and looked at the ceiling. "Huh. I feel like I've already waited forever and you know what? I think I would be willing to go on waiting, as long as you really wanted it."

Hitomi flushed. "Why do you care about me so much? Didn't we just meet last month?"

"But we didn't. I have known you for a very long time. This time you're so different, which must be why I didn't recognize you at first. I'm just glad I figured it out before it was too late."

"I wish you wouldn't talk so cryptically," she complained.

"I'll make a deal with you," he offered, completely changing the subject.

"What kind of a deal?" she asked sceptically.

He whispered in her ear, "I'll tell you something interesting if you'll give me back that poster of Van."

"What! You made me _pay_ a hundred dollars for it! I'm not _giving_ it back!"

"I'll give you a full refund," Dilandau offered tantalizingly.

Hitomi thought about that. She could certainly use the money she'd blown on that poster. She had almost nothing left after her shopping spree. And besides, if she still wanted pictures of Van, she had a whole collection of four by sixes that Dilandau had sold her. It didn't take her a minute to decide that it wasn't worth the effort to try to hold onto it.

"Okay," she said to Dilandau. "It's a deal."

Dilandau smiled at her, and then moved to take a look at his watch. "I should probably shove off soon. But, don't fret. I'll tell you what I'm going to do before I do it so you don't get scared. I'll tell you the 'something interesting' that I had planned and then I'll kiss you. Please don't pass out again."

Hitomi nodded, ready to accept a relationship with Dilandau after all. Even though she didn't completely understand him, there was a style about him that she liked, even though it didn't pierce her heart the way Van's did. She could go along with this. He said he'd be a gentleman and she trusted that. Plus, he didn't ask her to stay away from Van and Van was always asking her to stay away from Dilandau. He had to be the nicer guy.

Dilandau's eyes shone slightly as he peered carefully into hers. "My eyes are red because I made a deal with _that_ guy."

"Who…"

Hitomi's words were cut off as Dilandau's lips came down on hers. She tried to focus. She tried to stay in the present where she and Dilandau were kissing, but her brain would not stay and she got whipped into another time and space with the feeling of cold air burning her skin. The darkness was thick and moist and she opened her eyes and tried to figure out where she was.

She was in a circular room. It was dark except for one solid beam of light that came through the ceiling and lighted up a tree in front of her. The area between the walls and the trunk of the tree was a shallow reflection pool, so veins of white light mirrored on the ceiling like lines between constellations. Holding herself, she wished it wasn't cold or dark. She didn't like darkness, and she knew that even the light that came from the ceiling wasn't true light. It was sunlight filtered and toned down by water and glass. Its heat was completely wasted on the water above.

She felt like she was in prison. She didn't know how long she would be there, or how long it would be before someone rescued her. She could hear animals growling and scratching, sometimes far away and sometimes in the room next to her. Their claws rang as they sharpened them on rocks. From time to time she could hear a whip cracking over one and a subsequent yelp. Unwanted anxiety gripped her. The monsters felt so near that they might break through and tear her white skin to pieces. She was having trouble keeping her panic in check.

There were two doors on either end of this room. She suspected that one of them was locked and the other led to a bedroom. An icy feeling was winding its way through her insides – a feeling of such strong desolation that if suicide were possible, she would have taken her life. She couldn't even wound herself. The only things in this room were the ankle deep water and the tree that grew perfectly, its branches sprawling upward like it wouldn't have to stop if it came to the ceiling.

There was a tapping at one of the doors and then a man entered the room. She couldn't see his face, but she could see his body and hear his words.

"Are you hungry? I know you've refused food for days. Starvation isn't pretty, especially for someone as precious as you, Milady."

He was wearing a white robe, beautiful, like moonlight dancing on ripples of water at midnight. He approached her, and seeing her cold and wet state, removed his robe and slid it over her shoulders. He was wearing light trousers underneath and though they were thin, he sat down in the icy shallow water and tightened the fabric around her huddled form.

"Won't you take something to eat?" he offered, sliding a piece of food into her palm. "I can't eat it for you."

She was about to take a bite when his scarlet eyes flickered in the darkness. His face was still shrouded in a mask of shadow. Without trust, she could not eat, but without food … would she survive?

Opening her palm, she let it splash into the water and float away.

His eyes grew cruel and suddenly pain shot through her head like her skull would break. He hit her … hard. Grasping her cheek she forced herself back to reality.

Dilandau was kissing her tenderly, but her mouth was full of blood.

* * *

Hitomi sat at her pathetic little writing desk and tried to focus on her work. She had two papers she had to finish by Monday and a group project for one of her classes that she had to finish her portion of. But her brain was a complete muddle and her head hurt.

She was finally at the point where she could no longer pass her visions off as her one and only opportunity to dream. There had to be a meaning to them. She had just been enjoying the ride, and feeling what a pleasure it was to be like other people.

The thing was – Dilandau hadn't slapped her – but the bruise forming on her left cheek and the cuts in her mouth were things she couldn't ignore. One side of her face was totally messed up and there was nothing she could do to hide it, except cover it with foundation and cover-stick. She didn't even have the kind of hair that could be artfully draped over a swollen cheek. Sunglasses were useless as well. They didn't cover your cheekbone.

Dilandau didn't know what happened either. He brought her some ice and stayed with her as long as he could. He worked on the weekends and he said he couldn't call in sick.

"I'd stay with you," he said with real regret in his voice, "but there's no replacement for me. Shit, Hitomi. I have no clue what just happened."

That was hours ago. Now she was trying to write her paper and failing at it. She needed to get out of her dorm room, so she gathered up her laptop and headed for one of the campus libraries. When she was surrounded by other hard-working people, she found that their energy sometimes wore off on her.

The first library she went to was busier than she expected, and she couldn't find a table by herself, so she made her way to another one.

She entered the atrium of the second building, passing walls of intricately painted pictures into the library and there sitting at the very first table was Van. He was sitting by himself, stretching out, and balancing a triangular ruler on the end of his pen.

At first, she didn't know what to do. Should she turn around and find another spot on campus? Should she purposefully sit at another table and ignore him? Should she sit down and make nice like they were friends? What should she do?

Unfortunately, she didn't get a chance to make that decision before he lifted his eyes and looked her in the face. Without saying anything, he kicked the chair opposite out and motioned for her to take a seat. It looked innocent enough, even if she was with Dilandau now. Hitomi's grip tightened around her laptop strap as she slid into the chair.

"Relax," Van said easily when he saw her snare-drum nerves.

"You're not mad?" she asked, hesitating slightly.

"Why would I be mad?" he asked, looking at her with gentleness in his sherry brown eyes.

She rolled her eyes and tapped her toe slightly on the table leg. "You know … because of the way Dilandau answered my phone this morning."

"Yeah," Van said, grabbing a book and leaning on his two back chair legs. "Didn't expect that. So, are you here to study, or were you looking for me?"

"Both … I guess."

"What did you want to say? I'm listening."

"About Dilandau …"

"Don't worry about it. You said that you weren't going to run away with him out of desperation and I trust that you didn't. You were just out late because of your meeting, right?"

Hitomi stared at his response with giant eyes. Was that really what he believed? Was Van really the type of guy to avoid the worst possible conclusion and to think the best of her … even when it wasn't true? She was flabbergasted. She thought he'd be exploding in fiery rage by now and if that was the case, then she didn't care if she lost him, but if he thought this well of her then … she didn't know what she wanted.

"Why didn't you walk me last night when I called for a safe walk?" she abruptly demanded. She was getting antsy and feeling a little guilty.

"I didn't work last night." Then he paused before he said, "If you wanted to see me then why didn't you call me? We could have had a date or something."

"We already broke up."

"Oh … that," Van said, looking away from her and flipping a page in his book. "Well, I wasn't too concerned about that. I still want to see you. I thought I made that clear this morning, but if you're already seeing Dilandau and you want to see how that pans out then--"

"It wasn't very considerate of you to call and say those things so suddenly," she said, interrupting him. Then she leaned forward and looked in his face, "Why make that decision when you were ready to throw me out on my ear last Saturday?"

Van leaned forward, too, and examined her bruised face. He didn't answer her question, but instead asked, "What happened to you?"

"Nothing. Just an accident involving my vision," she said, implying that her eyesight was to blame. "It's nothing to worry about. Please answer my question. What made you decide to give me a second chance when you were so adamant that you didn't love me last week?"

"Did you walk into a pole or something?" he said, ignoring her and pursuing his question about her face.

"No," she said, looking at him coldly and tapping her toe.

"Then why are you hiding what happened? Did Dilandau hit you?"

"No," she said, shaking her head.

"Then what happened?" he persisted.

"Aw Van. Leave me alone. I had a weird dream and I somehow got hurt during it."

Van gawked at her in disgust. "What do you occult people do for your meetings? They weren't making you practice astral projection or some other stupid thing, were they?"

"No. It's nothing. I just have weird dreams when I faint. That's all."

"You faint a lot," he said quietly. "What kind of dreams do you have? Did you have them when I kissed you?"

Hitomi put a hand to her forehead and said coolly, "I tried to talk to you about this last week and you blew me off. I don't feel like talking about this right now. Besides, you won't answer my question and I'm starting to get pissed off. Why did you suddenly decide to call me when you avoided me all Friday?"

He took a deep breath and looked at her levelly with his beautiful, sorrowful eyes. "I am going to tell you what I am."

"Why now, when it hardly matters?"

He sucked his breath in. "No. I think that now is the time when it matters the most. To explain why I was an ass the last time we met – I can only explain that I got scared."

"Scared?" Hitomi asked, peering into his eyes.

"I was so hungry that day and you were in my room. I wasn't sure if I could hold back, but I couldn't leave you alone in there."

Her heart skipped a beat, but she couldn't let Van see that he was making her weak. She continued in a hard voice, "So, you're saying you're not a vampire, but you were tempted to drink my blood?"

Van put his finger in the corner of his mouth and pulled it wide so that Hitomi could see his sharp incisor. Then he let go and said, "I'm a blood drinker."

"U-huh," she said slowly.

"I don't expect you to believe me without proof. I've arranged for some."

"Which is?"

"You can contact your friend Naria. She's one of Folken's clients. I've checked the records and I'm positive she's been with him and therefore knows exactly what he is. And me too for that matter. I can show you the records if you'd like. Her signature is all over them."

Hitomi thought about Naria and how quick she had been able to give her Van's address. She sighed. She only hoped that Naria wasn't the woman she heard scream in that single second that Van's door was open. "There's no need to go that far," she said weakly.

"You believe me?" he asked curiously.

"Let's hear the rest of your story," she urged.

Van tapped his pen on the fat part of his open textbook. "I'm a siren."

"A siren?" she repeated.

"Do you know what that is?"

"Isn't it a woman who sings and bewitches sailors making them crash their ships on the rocks?"

"Sort of. I'm not a full siren, only half. I don't know who my father was – he's undoubtedly dead. My siren mother says she'll tell me who my father was when I turn sixty, so I have a long way to go." He paused, "Sirens are flesh eaters. My mother and her sister used to be nymphs, but they were cursed by the goddess Demeter to eat the flesh of men. You saw my mother's picture in Folken's living room. Who knows how many men she's seduced with her glorious voice, only to murder them and lick their bones clean with her leopard-like tongue. If you think my fangs are brutal, you should see her mouth. She is a predator through and through."

Hitomi listened to him carefully. She rested her unhurt cheek against the palm of her hand. "They're lucky they didn't get worse. Spineless wretches!" she suddenly spat.

Van's eyes went wide. "What did you just say?"

"I don't know," she said cluelessly. "It just kind of popped out. I seriously apologize. I don't know what came over me."

"Huh," Van said, his tongue stuck in his cheek. "Anyway, I'm not a cannibal … exactly. I drink blood, but I'm not a vampire. I'm a half siren and there aren't many of us in the entire world. I don't know how many children my mother's sister has had, but Folken and I are the only sons of Raidne at this moment. A vampire is a common thing compared to us."

"And Merle is a quarter siren?"

"Yeah, and she's not like Folken and I. Her curse is so light; it's hardly a curse at all. She's just a carnivore. She doesn't drink blood, but she could probably eat an entire cow by herself and she has like eighteen boyfriends on rotation. They know they can never have her. I like to think that if she really disciplined herself, she might be able to confine herself to one guy. She just likes the attention way too much. You see, the curse isn't just to make us miserable by giving us terribly revolting eating habits; it's to ensure that we never find happiness with the person we love. Every man my mother has ever loved, she's murdered. Two generations down, Merle's just hyper and restless with only one guy. It just means she has a really short attention span, but she doesn't _have_ to cheat on her boyfriend. Folken and I would _have _to cheat."

"What do you mean?" Hitomi asked suspiciously.

"I can't drink a man's blood. It has to be a woman's and on a regular basis. One woman's blood would not be enough to satisfy me. I need to drink about five hundred millilitres a week, or two doses of two hundred and fifty – which is the deal I have with Folken. A regular person can only safely give five hundred millilitres once every eight weeks. So, if I drank your blood behind that bookshelf over there," he said, motioning to an incredibly deserted part of the library. "I'd be good for about a week. Actually, I'd be better off with more, but I drink grenadine straight to try to help with the cravings."

"Why can you drink that?"

"Can we talk about that some other time? It's a complicated detail and I'm trying to confess something serious to you."

Hitomi apologized and asked him to continue.

"The point is," Van said, leaning in so that he could speak quieter. "This part makes me feel ill, but I have to tell you everything. I have been drinking the blood that Folken drains from his 'lovers' or 'donors' or whatever you want to call them. Merle acts like his little nurse and drains half their donation for me while he takes them off to 'pay' them."

"Is he a whore then?" Hitomi asked, feeling a little queasy.

"I don't think so. If he did anything truly disreputable, Merle wouldn't stand for it. Her mother lives on the third floor and if he cheats on her, Merle will leave and Folken wants her to stay more than anything else in the world. That may seem strange, but Merle is his daughter and he lived a long time before she came into his life. I agree with him. I would never do anything to hurt her. She's the only family we've got and she's the only girl I've ever known that a part of me didn't want to bite."

"That doesn't make me seem very special, since you have wanted to bite me," Hitomi said dryly.

"She's family, so try not to let it bother you. There's still a part of this I haven't explained." Van took a deep breath and confessed, "I haven't gotten any donors yet. I've only been drinking the blood Folken drains for me, but my mother called last night and she's going to make Folken cut me off by the end of the year if I don't get something started."

"That's rough," Hitomi said after a pause. What was the right thing to say in a situation like that?

Suddenly Van leaned forward and said directly, "Will you be the first girl I bite?"

Hitomi coloured. "What would you give me in exchange? How does Folken 'pay' his donors? Not sex?"

Van smirked. "Not sex. We're part siren – we sing. And we are mouth-wateringly good at it. Folken has one donor who is over sixty who comes like clockwork to hear him sing tracks from 'Tristan and Isolde'."

"Opera?"

"I sing Depeche Mode," Van said matter-of-factly. "And I would sing for hours for your pleasure. Making a little pinprick seems like an easy payment. You'd love it."

Hitomi hesitated. "If it's just singing then why is it like cheating?"

Van started gathering up his books. "You'll understand if you hear one of us. Think about it. The origin of our vocal cords is the stuff legends are made of. Men used to throw themselves into the sea when they couldn't swim to get closer to a siren's voice. You think a vampire would be hot with their smooth pale skin and razor sharp fangs? Trust me; a vampire's got nothing on me."

"Then why have I never heard you sing?" she asked, cocking her head to the side.

He zipped his backpack shut and regarded her carefully. "I've been taught never to sing unless I'm in a soundproof room. It's very dangerous because it attracts too much attention. Even Merle is forbidden. She sounds like an angel."

"What do you sound like?" she asked wistfully.

"A demon," he said wickedly. "I'll see you later." He turned to leave, but then he suddenly turned back. "You can think about my offer. It's a pretty good deal."

"It depends, are you going to bite me or are you going to prick me with a needle?" she asked flirtatiously.

He came back, grabbed the back of her chair, and leaned over her. His eyes sparkled with danger. "I'd recommend the fangs. They hurt more, but it's a much more personal experience. If I bite you, I do it after the performance. If you want the needle – you get it before we get started. This is what Folken does. You can choose, but I still want you to be the first girl I bite, so I'll wait until you are ready. I wish I had the luxury of waiting forever, but I only have to the end of December. That gives you roughly two months," he said as he moved away and gave her some space. "By the way, I'll be studying here tomorrow if you feel like seeing me for some reason. See you later and take care of those bruises."

Then he was gone.

Hitomi sat there fanning herself with her palm. How could she have set aside how hot Van was?

It was a full five minutes before she gathered her senses enough to open her laptop and try to work. When the screen lighted up, there was an instant message from Dilandau blinking in her toolbar.

Crap. She'd forgotten all about him.

* * *

Author's Notes: Bless Kaytala for betaing. She's promised to do another chapter for next week, so make sure you look forward to it. Bless all my readers and reviewers. I love reviews. My forum is up. I've been trying to move it into the Escaflowne section, but for some reason it won't go. I should really contact support, but I haven't done it yet, so my forum, 'Shivering Wings' is available through my profile. If you haven't voted on Van, please go to my profile and vote (Kaytala thought Van was a jerk in this chapter, but I like the way Van talks to Hitomi - go vote to say what you think). Okay, I think that's everything. Love you all so much! Cheers!


	14. Siren in the Library

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen**

**Siren in the Library**

The bloom was coming off Hitomi's rose and the reality of her situation had finally come home to her. She was caught between two guys and she liked both of them. That night, she sat down on her bed and pulled out her day planner. Finding an empty sheet, she drew two columns – one for Van and one for Dilandau. Then she gave them their own pro and con columns.

She didn't like to do it this way. It seemed far too analytical, but she couldn't help it. She had no idea how to go about making this kind of a decision. She'd never had two guys interested in her before. Scratch that. She had never had one guy interested in her before. But the decision had to be made. She didn't like the idea of cheating, letting Dilandau down, or letting Van go. She wasn't going to get everything she wanted, but she had better figure out what she did want as quickly as possible so the damage would be minimal.

_**Van Pro List**_

_1. He's really attractive (so hot it hurts)._

_2. He's smart._

_3. The way he makes me feel._

_4. I got to know him online before we met, so I know I like his personality._

_**Van Con List**_

_1. He thinks he's a siren._

_2. He wants to literally drain my blood._

_3. He's been acting like a complete jerk._

_4. He has mentioned that he's waiting for another girl to come onto the scene._

_5. After I passed out the last time, I woke up in a red water bathtub with no explanation why._

_6. He left in the morning._

_**Dilandau Pro List**_

_1. His interest in me has been really constant._

_2. He's nice._

_3. He's also smart._

_4. He stayed all night._

_**Dilandau Con List**_

_1. It sounds like he made a deal with the Devil and that's why his eyes are red._

_2. I had that violent vision when he kissed me._

Hitomi sat back and looked at her list. It wasn't very tidy and there were lots of scrunched up words in the margins. She'd also smeared the ink.

Things weren't looking good for Van. So, she sat and dissected her list, comparing Van's pro list with Dilandau's. She didn't say that she thought Dilandau was attractive and she put that on Van's list. Why not? Wasn't Dilandau handsome?

Hitomi leaned against the wall and thought about it. Dilandau didn't have a heavy build. Actually, he and Van were built very similarly, being that neither of them were tall or had bulky shoulders. Hmm… Dilandau's hair was very light and fanned out slightly around his ears. His forehead was smooth and his hairline low. He would probably have a glorious head of hair if he lived to be a hundred. When she saw him with brown eyes, she realized she'd been taken off guard. The brown contacts made him appear soft and gentle, whereas the red eyes sort of stripped him of his humanity. They changed everything about his appearance and she couldn't call him gorgeous no matter how likeable the rest of his face was. In the end, yes, Dilandau was good looking, but his face and expression didn't make her feel hot and bothered the way Van did. She left that one alone.

Next, she struck out the 'smarts' from both lists. They cancelled each other out.

'The way he makes me feel.' Yeah, Van made her feel pretty amazing, but didn't Dilandau make her feel safe, even though he didn't exactly make her feel like she was on fire? Off it went.

The next thing was about how they got to know each other online when he visited her blog and she visited his. Yeah, that was valid, but when she looked at Dilandau's list, she saw something just as valuable regarding his consistency.

Then she went to Dilandau's pro list. 'He's nice.' Hitomi thought over Dilandau's behaviour during all the time that she'd known him. He could definitely be nice … when he wanted to be. But wasn't Van like that, too? Nice when he wanted to be?

The last thing on Dilandau's list was that he had stayed the whole night. That was an undisputed fact and one she still felt warm about. Hitomi moved onto Van's Con list.

She looked at the first item. 'He thinks he's a siren'. That was a little strange, but if Dilandau could have naturally red eyes than why couldn't Van have naturally long, sharp teeth. Why not? She shrugged and looked at Dilandau's list. They were both weirdoes. She struck those things from their lists.

The next item was about Van's request to drink her blood. Well, that was included in the siren package, now wasn't it?

'He's been acting like a complete jerk.' Yup, that was true. However, there was that time that she fought with Dilandau in his office and the meeting where he made fun of her desire to learn about crop circles. She told him off, then. Yeah, they could both be mean, just the same as they could both be on good behaviour.

'He has mentioned that he's waiting for another girl to come onto the scene' Hitomi read. Well, she'd let Dilandau off the hook for kind of pretending to be a girl. She rolled her eyes. Yep, she had really hooked up with some classy guys. She struck it off the list.

Then there was the time that she fainted and Van put her in that strange tub of water filled with goodness-knew-what. That was one seriously unexplained occurrence. She decided to let Dilandau off the hook for the bruise on her face and let Van off for the tub incident at the same time.

The last item on Van's list was that he'd left in the morning. Well, that might not have been his fault. He never gave a reason. He might have had a good one and if he didn't … Well, she could just lump that one in with the fact that he was a jerk.

Hitomi examined her revised list.

_**Van Pro List**_

_1. He's really attractive (so hot it hurts)._

_**Dilandau Pro List**_

_1. He stayed all night._

So, what it boiled down to was that Van was beautiful and Dilandau stayed the night to comfort her.

Hitomi looked at it and decided to give Van a chance to explain why he had left in the morning. If he explained that, then maybe it would tip the scales. He said he would be in the library the next afternoon, Sunday. Well, she'd go and ask him why. Dilandau had phoned and apologized for not being able to come over that night. He also said that he had to work all the next day anyway. It was fine. She'd go and ask Van why he left before morning.

* * *

Hitomi didn't mean to doll herself up Sunday morning, but it was sort of inevitable. She got up and headed to the shower. When she got back to her dorm room it was only ten after ten and she couldn't go see Van until one-thirty at the earliest. So, she ended up curling her bangs after she blow dried her hair. Then she let herself glance at the clock. It was only ten-fifteen. Rolling her eyes, she picked up her curling iron and curled the rest of her hair. When she looked at the clock after she finished, it wasn't even ten-thirty.

She needed to blow some time.

Opening her laptop, she forced herself to work on one of her papers to completion. Distracted, she didn't think she'd done a good job, but at least she managed to get it finished, which was certainly saying something considering her frame of mind.

Checking the clock again, she saw that it was barely past eleven. So, she got to work on her group assignment. This was harder, because her group mates had high expectations for her performance, but when she got online to post her portion of the work she saw that one of her team members had already posted her portion and sent her a nasty email exclaiming that it wasn't okay to leave things to the last minute. Hitomi checked the work with a scowl on her face.

'Whatever,' she thought cynically as she sent in her work anyway. She might as well let them know that she hadn't been slacking entirely.

Now she only had a little left on her last paper to do, and she planned on taking that to the library when she went to see Van on the pretence of actually having some work to do.

It was hard wasting the rest of the time there was left before going to meet Van, but she somehow managed it. She cleaned her laptop's hard drive, did her make up, made her bed, went down to the cafeteria for lunch, and finally went back to her dorm room to brush her teeth before she headed out.

After all that anticipation, she made it to the library and Van wasn't even there. She took an angry seat and started working on her last paper. Just because he was late, it didn't mean she couldn't get her work finished. Leaning over her laptop, she shut out everything that was happening in the library around her and focussed on the tail end of her essay. Once it was done, she planned to go back to her dorm and text Dilandau. Maybe they could have dinner that night.

After she finished typing, she read it over twice, fixed her errors and emailed it to her professor. All done, she looked around for Van, but he still wasn't there even though it was almost three.

Sighing, Hitomi packed up her laptop and books and made her way to the exit. She hadn't realized how much she wanted Van to show up until he hadn't come at all. Had she been stood up?

Then suddenly, there was a low voice speaking smoothly in her ear, "And I thought you wouldn't come." Hitomi looked up, and saw Van standing there with a collection of books cradled in his arms. "I didn't keep you waiting long, did I?" he asked kindly.

"I was just on my way out," she said to punish him for making her wait so long.

He nodded, and Hitomi might have imagined it, but she thought he looked disappointed. "Ah well, I wouldn't want to take up too much of your time. Sorry I missed you." He stood there for a second waiting for her to leave, but Hitomi stayed exactly where she was and stared at him.

She was trying to figure out how to ask him the question she had come here to ask. Now if she could only remember it.

Van looked at the ceiling, then at his boots, then at the librarian and then at Hitomi like he was trying to fill the awkward gap with something. Finally, he seemed to remember the books in his hands and said, "I'll be over here."

He moved over to the chair Hitomi had just been sitting in and laid out his books. He opened one to a specific page and flattened it out. Then he opened a note book and pulled out a pencil case.

What was he doing with all that paper? This wasn't nineteen eighty-seven. Intrigued, Hiotmi went back to the table and sat down across from him.

"What are you reading?" she asked, actually interested.

"William Blake. I was studying Grecian myths, but then someone mentioned that I might get more of a hint from reading 'Songs of Innocence and Experience' by Blake, so I thought I might as well give it a try."

"Is it for a class?" she asked. "You know, I have no idea what your major is."

"Biology," he answered stiffly. "This isn't for a class. I'm studying you."

Hitomi was completely astonished. "How on Earth could you be studying me?" she sputtered.

"I'm trying to figure you out. You're a really confusing girl."

"'Girl'? Couldn't you have said 'woman'?"

"No," he answered simply, picking up the book and focussing on one of the poems.

Stung by his comment, she was tempted to leave the room. "So, how exactly are you studying me? What could you possibly want to find out?"

"Well, right now I'm reading his poem called 'Song'. Have you read it? It's about a woman who gets lulled into a romantic relationship by a man who woos her with his words and eventually traps her. Before that, I was reading 'A Poison Tree'. That was interesting, too, and definitely had its merit."

"I don't see what all that has to do with me," she said, completely perplexed.

"You're still so innocent, with wool over your eyes that's so thick, you can't see what's happening. I have this theory that once you do lose that innocence that hangs over you like a halo, you are going to become something else – something dark."

"Darker than you?" she laughed.

But Van's face remained still and unmovable. "Yes," he said. "Before this I was studying old Greek myths. Are you familiar with any of them?"

Hitomi glared at him. "I'm starting to feel stupid when I'm around you."

"I don't know why. You knew what a siren was yesterday, so you at least know one. And since you're interested in horoscopes and such, you should be familiar with a few of those tales, too. Like … the story of the Gemini. You know that one, don't you?"

"One soul in two bodies?" she said, remembering what Naria had told her.

"Sort of," Van said. "That is one story I was reading. It's about the love of two brothers. I wonder if Naria and Eriya are the same. But," he shook his head as if to empty it of his thoughts. "That's none of my business. It isn't even my problem. Anyway, there are all kinds of legends. Sirens are just one of them and I've been trying to figure out the answer to our little problem."

"What problem would that be?"

Van looked at her thoughtfully before he said in slow even tones, "Do you like me better than Dilandau?"

Hitomi frowned and rolled her eyes. "He does have his good qualities, you know."

"Like what?"

Hitomi was feeling angry and she didn't like Van challenging her like this, so she might as well come out with it. "The same thing happened."

"Huh?"

"I had him over in my dorm room late at night, he kissed me and when I woke up the next morning … he was still there," she said triumphantly. Then she waited for Van's response. Hopefully, he'd be crushed.

Van was nothing of the sort. "Don't you think that's kind of creepy?" he replied, completely unruffled.

"Which is so much better than taking off without even writing a little note? Like what you did last week? Yeah, you're so much less creepy than Dilandau. Why didn't I see it before?" she said acidly.

Van looked at her blankly. "You were upset about that?"

"Yeah. It looked a little heartless, don't you think? To be honest, you and Dilandau are both riding pretty even on my charts right now, even though I dumped you last week. It's boiling down to that one thing. So, Van, why _did_ you leave?"

He flicked a piece of his hair out of his face and said rationally, "I am a siren. A water creature like me can't stay on dry land forever. I needed to go home and have a bath in my own tub with my own salts and chemicals. I'm sorry. I had no idea it bothered you, but I had just been dry for too many hours by the time I made it to your room that night. A shower there simply wouldn't have done the trick for me, so I _had_ to go home."

"What would have happened to you if you had stayed?" she persisted.

Van looked mildly disgusted, but answered kindly, "I don't exactly know. I have gotten rashes before when I haven't taken proper care of myself. If I had stayed until you woke up, let's say you woke up at ten in the morning, I would have been about five hours past my expiry … I don't think I would have died, but I would have been sorely dehydrated and my mind probably would have disintegrated a fair bit."

"What does that mean?"

"I would have been wild, desperate, and unthinking in my need to get to my tub. I might have done something truly irrational and thrown myself in the river on my way home. Who knows? I've been taught to never let it get that bad."

"You certainly plan to be away from home a good deal for someone with your kind of restrictions."

"You mean my job as Safewalk director? Yeah, well, I need to do something good to balance out my bad eating habits. That's something I have to do for my own peace of mind, since I don't always know where my next meal is coming from. Look, I can tell you're still miffed at me for what I did, but you don't understand. I sleep in my tub, though that's not really enough. I need to spend at least two hours a day besides sleeping in the water."

"So why aren't you on the swim team?" she asked callously.

"Right," he said, his eyes narrowing. "I knew you didn't understand. The water's not right in the university pool. Do you know how many chemicals they put in the water to keep it clean? It's nothing like the water where I was born. I can't go to places like that. I really would be better off jumping in the river and between you and me – it isn't that clean."

When Van said the words 'jumping in the river' something in Hitomi snapped. She had jumped in the river once long ago when she wanted to kill herself. Her mind was turning cartwheels. "Yesterday, you said that you didn't know if your mother's sister had any children or grandchildren. Could you find out for me if she did?"

Van glanced at Hitomi and said, "What are you thinking?"

"Nothing," she lied. What she was actually thinking was far too incredible to be considered. She was thinking that maybe it was possible that somehow she was part siren too and that was why she hadn't drowned that time she tried to commit suicide. After all, he said that by the time it got to the second generation, it was hardly a curse at all. What if she was more than two generations removed from Raidne's sister? Maybe somehow that was the reason Van was attracted to her – they were both sirens.

Van flipped his book shut and said, "Well, Hitomi, you haven't left, so did you decide to let me bite you even though you're with Dilandau now?" Van minced no words.

Hitomi stared at him, but didn't say a word. She couldn't speak when he said those words with his voice sounding like brass polished to perfection. He mentioned Dilandau like he saw through any excuse she might have generated. The long and short of it was that she had spent last Friday night with Dilandau in her bedroom. What other conclusion could be drawn? But the look on his face spoke plainly. He didn't care. Hitomi's cheeks turned pink at the sight of his desire. He shouldn't have such an effect on her, but his face seemed whiter than usual, contrasting his dark hair perfectly. Something in the pit of her stomach turned. She didn't know how she felt. She was so lost. She didn't know what to do at all, but maybe there was a way to find out.

"I think I need to talk to Naria before I know what I want," she said.

"Why Naria? How weird!"

"It's not weird," Hitomi countered. "I want to hear what she has to say about Folken and his blood drinking."

Van leaned back in his chair and chuckled softly. "You do that."

She looked at him again. It was painful. Van was too beautiful and when he smiled, he made it worse. It wasn't right for him to be walking around looking so striking. Didn't he cause accidents or something?

She sighed and forced herself to leave the library.

* * *

Author's Notes: There were so many errors in this chapter that it was faster just to replace it. Nothing to do with content was changed - just mistakes. Thanks again to everyone who reads and reviews. Cheers!


	15. The Immortal One

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne.

* * *

**Chapter 15**

**The Immortal One**

Dilandau came over to Hitomi's dorm room after he was done work that Sunday night.

"Hi, My Girlfriend," he said as he came in. He didn't even take off his coat before his arms were around her waist and he was kissing her. However, he didn't let it last long enough for her to black out and pulled away just when she was starting to get fuzzy.

"You're good," Hitomi said as she flopped onto her computer chair. "No weird visions, nothing."

"Well," he said as he shrugged out of his coat. "I don't mind if it's only a peck. I'm just happy that I can kiss you whenever I want and if I can make you a little breathless than it's all the better." He dropped a kiss on her cheek.

"Thanks," Hitomi said, trying to focus on his attentions.

Even though she was doing double duty seeing Dilandau yesterday morning, then seeing Van in the afternoon, then seeing Van again earlier and meeting Dilandau for the evening, she wasn't going to let it bother her. For the time being, she was Dilandau's girlfriend and _technically_ she hadn't done anything wrong visiting Van. Right? Who was she kidding? She was the _worst_! However, she didn't know how to weasel her way out of this. Van wasn't such a good choice for a boyfriend and Dilandau was, even though her feelings didn't exactly line up that way. So, until she made up her mind or something happened to choose for her – she would just have to continue this way. Besides, Dilandau didn't suspect a thing and Van knew that she was with Dilandau now. He just didn't care. He still wanted to bite her.

"What are you doing for dinner tonight?" Dilandau suddenly asked.

"I'm going over to Naria and Eriya's in about an hour," Hitomi said as she consulted the clock on her bedside table.

"Am I invited, too?"

"Huh? I don't know. I phoned Naria because I wanted to ask her something and she invited me over for dinner."

Dilandau shook his head and rooted around in his back pockets until he found his cell phone. "You know, you've really got to get it into your head that we're a couple now, so you shouldn't make plans with out me." He programmed Naria's number into his phone. Once it connected, he started talking to her, "Hi, I hear Hitomi's coming over for supper tonight. Mind if I tag along? … What? … You've got to be kidding me? Girls only? Did you invite Celena? … That's not _all_ the girls then … What about the witches? Did you invite them, too? … No huh? … … … All right, I get it. I'll bring her over, okay? Yeah … See ya." Dilandau smacked his flip phone shut and buried it in his back pocket.

"Sorry," Hitomi said, cringing.

Dilandau rolled his eyes and put his arms around Hitomi. "It's okay. She treated me to a mini lecture about being possessive and giving you space to do your own thing. Possessive? I don't even know the meaning of that word."

Chills began inching their way up Hitomi's spine. "What do you mean?"

"I'm always being told that I'm too possessive or protective or something with Celena. I'm not her dad, so she doesn't have to check in with me every thirty seconds, but I worry about her. She's my dear little sister and I don't want anything bad to happen to her."

"Does she mind?" Hitomi asked curiously. Hitomi knew what it was to have someone constantly checking up on her and she had her fill of that in the past.

"No," Dilandau said. "She's never said a word about it. It's mostly Naria I hear it from, or … maybe Naria is the only one I'll listen to. I think if anyone besides her or Eriya even hinted that they thought something was strange in our relationship I'd just tell them to mind their own business. I don't expect other people to understand. They aren't twins. But I listen to Naria, because she's got a twin, too."

"Naria thinks your relationship with Celena is a little too close?" Hitomi asked, thinking about how Naria told her that she and Eriya were one soul separated by two different bodies. Those two were extremely intimate and if they thought Dilandau and Celena were too close then Hitomi was inclined to think there was probably a problem. Hitomi trusted Naria on this subject.

Dilandau scratched the back of his neck. "We're not. It's hard to explain. I just don't want to miss her life and I don't want to see it cut short."

"Because of the time that you almost died?"

"Yeah," Dilandau said, blinking slightly. "I knew you'd understand perfectly. Only someone who'd almost died could know exactly how scary it is to miss out on your life."

He grasped Hitomi in his arms, but somehow the feeling wasn't right. What he thought about her wasn't true. He was holding her so warmly – like she was really special – but it was all wrong. She didn't know what life she was missing out on. In truth, the life she had been living before she tried to kill herself was over. She didn't continue it. The life she lived now didn't have anything to do with who she had once been. She wasn't comforted and she now felt like she and Dilandau didn't share a common bond after all.

He pulled away slightly and looked into her eyes. "You're probably the first person who has understood. Thank you, Hitomi. You're an angel."

"No, I'm not," she said a little breathlessly.

"Yes, you are." And as he said those words his eyes seemed to turn to liquid – they glistened.

When Hitomi studied Dilandau's face, she learned so much about him that she simply hadn't realized. He loved her. For him, their flighty stupid little romance that was started by an impulse of hers was serious – far more serious than she had guessed. He thought she was beautiful. He didn't need to say it. She knew it just by looking at him. He believed that obtaining her was this impossible feat and at this moment, he was triumphing at his success on getting her to date him. No wonder he hadn't left the morning after, simply lying beside her was pure pleasure to him. Saying she was an angel was no exaggeration; he believed it. Even standing in her plain, boring dorm room, he was getting excited. He was completely smitten and Hitomi had no idea why. She couldn't understand how it had happened.

"Oh," Dilandau said, seeming to remember something. "I have a present for you, or rather, a return."

"What?"

He pulled out his wallet and pulled out five twenty dollar bills. "I'm returning your money, so can I get the vampire out of your room?"

Hitomi took the money between two fingers. "Knock yourself out."

"With pleasure," he said, heading over to her closet. Carefully, he tugged the white tack off the doors and rolled up the poster without removing it from the edges.

Hitomi noticed that would ruin the paper and so she asked him, "What are you going to do with it now?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'll find Van and give it to him. He probably has a girl somewhere who would enjoy it."

Hitomi shuddered at the idea. "Why don't you just throw it away?"

"Actually, I was thinking of asking him if I could enter it into a photography contest."

Her stomach turned. "Don't do that either. Let's just throw it away."

"It would be a waste. Like you noticed, that guy isn't normal. Do you still think he's a vampire?" Dilandau joked.

"No," Hitomi said, poking a ruffle in the carpet with her toe. "I don't."

Dilandau looked thoughtful. "You were so sure earlier. What changed your mind?"

"He's just a normal guy with an ex-girlfriend with a vampire fetish," she said bleakly.

"I'm confused. Did you meet her or something? Why are you suddenly on my side when you were fighting me so fiercely?"

She couldn't tell Dilandau that Van had told her what he really was. Actually, she had no idea how to answer him, so she kept silent and went to put her shoes on.

"No, really," Dilandau persisted. "What made you change your mind?"

"Didn't you tell Naria that you were going to drive me over? It's about time we were on our way. Thank you so much for returning my money. I don't know how I would have lived for the rest of the semester if you hadn't offered me a refund."

"Are you having money trouble?"

"I wouldn't have if I hadn't fallen for Van," she said, thinking of how much money she'd spent since she met him.

"Wait. That bastard didn't take money from you, did he?"

"No. It's not like that."

"What was it like, then?"

He wasn't going to stop asking until she told him the truth. So, she did. She reminded him of the poster's cost as well as the other photos she'd bought. Then she told him about how her entire wardrobe needed a makeover as well as her room. If she hadn't done all that, she would still be sitting pretty with money.

"So, as you can see, it's all my fault. So, don't blame Van, kay? He didn't actually tell me I wasn't good enough for him the way I am right now. He didn't even hint it. I just don't like being told that I'm innocent."

"He said you were 'innocent'?" Dilandau asked, his face a perfect puzzle.

"Repeatedly."

"But you're through with him now, aren't you?"

"He knows we're together," she said, evasively. From what Van said, he didn't care two straws if she was with Dilandau or not. Something about how he couldn't possibly be faithful to one woman, so he didn't exactly expect fidelity in someone he bit. But, she hadn't decided that she was going to betray Dilandau that way yet.

"It's all fine then," he said, visibly relaxing. "Are you ready?"

"Yep."

* * *

Dilandau drove Hitomi across the river to Naria and Eriya's place. She was a little surprised when they got there because he pulled up in front of what really looked like a run-down art gallery.

She gave Dilandau an apprehensive glance. There were parking meters on her side of the door.

"I'll walk you in," he said as he came around and opened her door for her.

"You didn't have to do that," she said. She'd never had a guy open the door for her like that and it made her a little embarrassed.

"Don't worry about it. That's not all I would do for you," he said easily, taking her hand in his he pressing the buzzer.

While they waited, Hitomi looked at the two sculptures and the three paintings displayed in the front window. There were track lights illuminating the five pieces. Actually, all of them were in magnificent taste. The only problem was the peeling white paint outside the shop. It made the place seem old and out-of-business – especially on this street where there was nothing but what appeared to be abandoned pawn shops.

"Do they really live here?" Hitomi asked hesitantly when no one came to the door.

"And you thought your friends from the Occult's Addict were normal? You, My Dear, live in the most sensible accommodations of all of us. The witches live in a castle on the waterfront that was built when the hot topic in this part of the world was beaver pelts. You should see it sometime. It's beautifully maintained and the gardens are really well cared for. The ivy is amazing. They're all eaten by the frost by now, but you should really go see their place in the summertime. It's quite a sight."

"Where do you live?"

"I haven't decided yet."

"What does that mean?"

He chuckled. "It means that I'm living in a hotel."

"Isn't that … _expensive_?"

"Extremely. You didn't notice the quality of my car, or the quality of my clothes and gadgets?"

"No," Hitomi said, a little aghast. She pulled away from him and tried to look at his clothes more carefully.

"I'm wearing Armani to my socks. My car is a Supercharged V8 XF."

Hitomi bit her lip and turned to look at it more carefully. It was silver. That was about all she could see about it. She had no idea what he meant V8 XF.  
"It's a Jaguar," he said with great patience. "But that particular one had to be imported from Malasyia."

"Crap Dilandau! How rich are you?"

"Disgustingly."

"So why were you and Celena so happy about selling me a poster for a hundred bucks when it would probably be easy to cover the cost of all our club meetings yourselves?"

"Good question. Celena doesn't like to do it that way. She doesn't want people to rely on us. She has a really hard time with hangers-on. Anyone who might be with us because of our money is absolute trash to her. So, we don't pay for much, but we did pay for our Halloween party."

He turned and rang the doorbell again.

"So, what's your weekend part-time job? I'm very curious now."

"It's more like an obligation. My father was a very successful stock broker and if I don't spend at least two days a week with him doing it with him, he gets very foul, so I have to make the sacrifice no matter where I spend the night." His arms came around her and she found her back pressed into his chest.

For the briefest of seconds, Hitomi saw the reflection of Dilandau and herself in the glass door. His eyes were closed and he was curling his head around her like she was the greatest of treasures. It would have been picturesque, if only her eyes hadn't looked so frightened.

They were interrupted when Naria flung the door open. "Oh, I'm glad you're still here. We had a little bit of an emergency with the food, but the crisis has been averted. Don't just stand there. Come in."

Dilandau kissed Hitomi on the head and stroked her back with his free hand. "I'll come get you when you're ready to go home. Just give me a call, okay?"

"Okay," Hitomi said weakly.

Then he let her go and Naria pulled her into the studio. "Thanks Dilly. We'll see you later. Thanks for being so understanding. Bye bye."

Then she slammed the door shut.

Turning to face Hitomi, she said, "Eriya and I are so glad _you_ called _us_. We've wanted to talk to you since Friday. That was quite the change of heart you had there, wasn't it, Honey?"

"W-What?" Hitomi stuttered.

Naria grabbed her upper arm and pulled her through the canvas-lined, paint-splattered studio to a decaying staircase. Marching her up, Hitomi hardly got a chance to look at anything, but she soon found herself in the cosiest room she had ever been in.

The twin's kitchen was painted yellow with blue flowers adorning every spare spot. Their table was done up like the pages of a home decorating magazine with blue and white china. The napkins were folded perfectly and there was even a vase with real blue roses.

Eriya stood at the stove, stirring something passionately. "You've caught us on a pasta night. Normally we alternate. We have pasta, then rice, then bread, then potatoes. But don't worry, this recipe is really good."

"Thanks for inviting me," Hitomi said as she sat down in the chair Naria pulled out for her.

"Get the salad out," Eriya commanded as Naria fiddled around the kitchen arranging the last details.

Soon they were all sitting at the table with fresh greens on their plates. Hitomi had one bite of the salad and thought she was in heaven. Where did they get the dressing? She had been eating cafeteria food for too long already and it was only early November.

"Okay," Naria said, taking her water glass in hand and looking directly at Hitomi. "Time we got down to business. Neither of us think you should date Dilandau."

"Why?" Hitomi asked, trying to decipher the reason for their opinion.

"I thought he was a girl," Eriya said directly. "All those years he and Celena played that game and I thought he was a girl."

"I was never sure," Naria admitted. Hitomi remembered her saying something like that the first night she came to the club.

"And that wasn't just what I wanted to believe. There were hints that convinced me," Eriya continued. "He took such downright ravishing pictures of Van, he wasn't interested in girls, and he was never remotely moved, no matter how many times he saw us all in our underwear. Nothing. And he has devoted entirely too much time to Celena. Before I thought they were simply two sisters who were never going to have men in their lives, but now … I don't know what to think."

Hitomi twitched. "You make it sound like he's bi and has an incestuous relationship going on with his sister," she said coldly.

"No. No. That's not what she meant," Naria said, rushing to the rescue. "She was merely pointing to the signs that made her think Dilandau was a girl. For starters, I would like to say that I didn't think the way Dilandau photographed Van was the least bit sexual. Honestly, I think hates Van, and I think he hated him long before they met at that club meeting. Not for one second do I think Dilandau likes guys. Eriya's just annoyed that he was so good at covering his tracks. She doesn't like being fooled."

"Hmph," Eriya said, crossing her arms.

"As for his relationship with Celena, it's a little weird. He keeps very close tabs on her, but she also keeps very close tabs on him. She told us that he only agreed to pretend to maybe be a girl because she asked him to. She didn't want him to find a girlfriend at university and forget all about her. And he did a very good job keeping his bargain with her. Not once did he betray that he was a guy around us until Van outright accused him."

Hitomi took a deep breath and asked, "So, why don't you want me to date him?"

"Isn't it obvious?" They chimed, "Because of Van."

Hitomi winced. "Actually, it's kind of because of Van that I wanted to come talk to you tonight."

"Why?"

She looked at Naria. "I was under the impression that you knew his older brother and I wanted to know what you could tell me about him and his blood drinking."

Naria practically melted in her seat. "As long as Folken doesn't murder me, I'll never give him up."

"Like he _could_ kill you," Eriya snorted.

Naria shook her head like she was shaking off Eriya's comment. "I'll have to wait for Folken, but one day, he'll definitely be mine. You see, he has a woman who is like a wife to him who lives on the third floor. They have a child together."

"Right. Merle."

"Yeah. Anyway, it's been over between the two of them for ages, but she won't let Folken go, so Merle has a deal with him. As long as he doesn't break his promise with her mother, she'll live with him. But something's got to crack soon, and you better believe that I'll be there when it does."

"You're a home wrecker?" Hitomi asked in disbelief.

"It's not much of a home when he lives on an entirely different floor, now is it? And I'm not a home wrecker. That woman can't live forever and I can, so it's not such a big deal."

"What are you talking about?" Hitomi sputtered.

Naria stared at her with wide eyes. "Didn't I tell you we were the Gemini?"

"Yes, but what does that mean?"

"Welcome to the world of myths and legends," Eriya said with a wicked smirk. "It means that even though we're twins, we have different fathers. Her father was a god. He was an immortal being that dwells in the heavens, while my father was an average man, who gave me the ability to die."

"You make it sound like I rub it in your face," Naria said, looking pitiful.

"You don't. Actually, you don't even make it sound good when your greatest ambition is to become the only woman Folken ever bites. Living forever just to be the food for that cursed son of a bitch – you can have it."

"You don't like Folken?" Hitomi asked, wondering what Eriya could possibly see amiss in him. He looked good to her.

Eriya slumped in her chair like Hitomi had let all the air out of her tires. "I've never met him, so I guess it's not fair for me to talk like that. I'm just jealous that she has someone she wants. I've never met a guy worth the gun powder to blow him to Hell. And I don't want to meet Folken. What if I fell for him, too? What kind of a disaster would that be?" She took a deep breath and then said potently, "But I'm not jealous about her immortality. I never want her to suffer and an immortal body is nearly impervious to pain. Maybe that's why I don't understand Dilandau and Celena. My Naria is always safe. No one could ever hurt her. But Dilandau and Celena are both human, so maybe that's why they're so fearful for each other's safety."

Hitomi sat quietly for a moment and thought about what Eriya said before she finally spoke. "Van doesn't think Dilandau is human. Actually, he's not sure what he is. I thought maybe you two could help."

Naria twitched. "Van said that? He must be right. I don't think he would say something like that without good reason. Sirens have certain abilities. I don't know all of them. Maybe he can tell something just by looking at Dilandau. Who knows?"

"What sort of powers do you think he has, Naria?"

"I don't know. The only thing I know for sure is that the power of a siren's song is not to be taken lightly. It's potent all by itself, but there might be something else he can do. Have you heard Folken or Van sing?"

"No."

"It's really wonderful – perfect pitch, perfect control … absolutely perfect. But, what's really special is the bite. That's how I learned that I was immortal. Folken drank my blood and I had a vision of my true father and Eriya's. It's exactly the way the old legend of the Gemini goes. Folken knew it, too. He pulled away from me and did the most amazing thing."

"What?" Hitomi asked, on the edge of anticipation.

Naria put a hand to her throat and the next words that came out of her mouth seemed precious. "He knelt down in front of me and told me I was the daughter of a god. Then he showed me that the wounds he put in my throat were already healed. It was really a beautiful experience. He's cursed, so to touch me is a blessing for him. He never refuses me when I want to see him. He can't."

Hitomi cleared her throat. "Van invited me … or rather he asked me … if he could bite me."

Naria's eyes widened. "You should do it!"

"Why? Aren't I with Dilandau now? Crap, I'm so confused."

"It's not cheating. It's like giving blood. Actually, it can be entirely like giving blood if you want. When I go, they pump out two hundred and fifty millilitres for Van to drink. Then Folken sings and then he drains the last two hundred and fifty with his fangs. The whole thing is really special and who knows, you might be able to find out something new about yourself."

"Actually, I've already had visions from when Van has kissed me," Hitomi admitted with a stick in her throat. She wasn't sure how to confess to all this.

"Really?" the twins blurted, staring at her with gigantic eyes.

"Yes."

"What have you seen? You have to tell us."

"Well, it wasn't exactly how you described your vision. I didn't learn anything new about myself like that. I've probably had four visions, I think. In the first one, I saw Van bleeding and dying on the floor in front of me and I began drinking his blood."

Naria and Eriya's mouths fell slack as they stared at Hitomi in horror.

"That's not what I expected," Naria said, breaking eye-contact with Hitomi.

"Tell us more," Eriya persisted. "I'm not afraid of weird truths. What else did you see?"

Suddenly, Hitomi knew she had come to the right place to talk about these things. They weren't just some weird coincidence and these girls were on the same vein as Van. These were the perfect people to confide in. "Van hasn't bitten me. This happens when he kisses me. Does Folken kiss you, Naria?"

"Yes, he has many times. Except he never does anything more than that and I think it's just to warm himself up for the bite. But after that one first vision, I never saw anything again. It's extremely weird that you had multiple visions and from only a kiss. What did you see the second time?"

"I was sitting in a room and I had this strange feeling that I wasn't like myself, but a more grown up version of myself and there was a goblet full of my blood beside me."

"Could be a vision of the future," Eriya suggested.

Naria nodded in agreement.

Hitomi cleared her throat and remembered the third dream. "Next I was in a dark castle and I was being chased by a monster. I was running and when I finally broke out of the gates, Van was waiting for me with a winged horse beside him."

"Are you sure?" Eriya asked suddenly. "There actually aren't that many winged horses in this world. If there was really one there than he would have had to borrow one from one of their owners. Van's cursed so that doesn't seem very likely. Wouldn't you agree?"

Hitomi was surprised. "Really? How many are there?"

Eriya shrugged. "I can only think of two, but there might be more."

"Tell us about the last vision," Naria encouraged.

Hitomi mastered her nerves and forced her voice not to shake as she confronted her fear. "This one was a lot more detailed than the others. I was standing on the balcony of a castle and Van was dead in front of me. Sorry," she said with a voice that trembled. "If you've never actually seen a person hacked to bits, then you wouldn't understand how scary this was. Sorry, I can't even tell you how messed up his body was. But I pulled one of the knives out of his chest and …"

"And what?"

Hitomi nearly choked on the words. "Slit my own throat."

"Maybe Van's not the right guy for you," Naria said slowly as she leaned back in her chair. "Since you both end up dying in your visions."

"I'll get the pasta."

Eriya got up and prepared the rest of the meal. After dishing up for all of them she sat down again.

"We've got to lighten up the mood in here," she said, flicking her hair away from her face.

But Hitomi wasn't finished dropping her bombs. "I have visions when Dilandau kisses me too."

Naria and Eriya stared in complete disbelief. "What did you see then?"

"You know, I have to point out that even though I had what seems like scary dreams when Van kisses me, I have to say that whatever I dreamed, I was filled with the most amazing feeling of love towards him. It's my judgement that pushes me away from him and not my feelings. That's what I think anyway."

"Sirens do that to people," Eriya said, patting Hitomi's hand sympathetically. "Just look at this girl here. She's a total mess and all because of one those silver-tongued devils."

"Shut up," Naria mumbled through a mouthful of pasta.

"Oh, you know I'm just jealous," Eriya said in the most condescending voice imaginable.

Hitomi laughed. The two of them were really fun. She was really happy to be here with them. What had she done without them since she came to college?

"Anyway," she said, dropping her wide smile. "When Dilandau kisses me, I don't see the same thing."

"Do you have visions of Dilandau? Because it could be you who has visions whenever anyone kisses you rather than any special power either of those guys has," Eriya suggested.

Hitomi had never thought of that. "Huh? No. I don't have visions of Dilandau. I see a man, but I don't think it's him."

"What's he like?"

"It's more of a personality than a face. I guess he has a body, but I haven't seen his face. In my dreams he's almost like one of those Grecian statues that are missing limbs. His body is like that, too – white and polished. Real men don't look like that. They aren't shiny and perfect like that."

"But some of them are pretty dang good," Naria interrupted.

Eriya gave her a dirty look. "She's talking now, okay?"

Both of them waited patiently for Hitomi to continue.

"He's mean to me," Hitomi said, thinking carefully. "And he's mean to himself as well." She told them about her two dreams. "I think he stepped all over the glass because I wanted it."

"And then once he gave you what you wanted, he thought it was okay to take what he wanted, so he raped you?" Eriya said coldly.

"My dream ended before that happened," Hitomi said, defending whoever it was.

"Come on, Hitomi," Naria intervened. "You can't pretend that this is a good guy. Whether he raped you or not, in the very next dream, he hit you. You can't ignore that or brush it off."

"I don't think you should date either of these guys," Eriya said seriously. "They both sound like trouble. Unless, you're the girl who has visions no matter who kisses you. So, have you ever kissed anyone else besides Van and Dilly?"

Hitomi shook her head.

"Parents watched you like hawks? Never got the chance?" Eriya asked calmly. "Well, I think we should put my theory to the test. I know a guy who would be up for an experiment of this sort." She reached around and grabbed her cordless phone from off the kitchen counter.

"The man whore?" Naria laughed.

"You read my mind. I love this guy, Hitomi. You're going to like him, too."

"But I thought you never met a guy who wasn't worth the gun powder to blow him to Hell?"

Eriya nodded while she dialled. "Yeah. He's mostly the guy who proves the theory to be correct. He's totally worthless, but very cute and extremely fun to be around. Seriously, he makes shopping for light bulbs feel like a day at an amusement park." She put the phone to her ear and continued talking to Hitomi, "But he's got no sense of modesty, sobriety, or fidelity. He's sort of indecent all around, but he can spin off a love poem at a moments notice that makes Byron look like an amateur." Then she got up from the table and went to speak to the man in question in another room.

Naria leaned across the table to whisper. "She's hopelessly in love, but it's sort of pointless. Don't worry. He is an excellent person to try this with."

"Try what with?" Hitomi squeaked.

"What do you think?" Naria huffed in irritation. "Kissing."

Hitomi leaned back. "I'm not going to do that. Do you know how angry that would make Dilandau?"

Naria rolled her eyes. "Weren't you just talking about slipping behind his back to let Van bite you? Which is still something I think you should do. If Van starts biting women himself for his food then he won't be able to stay faithful to you. If you're not immortal then you don't have enough blood inside you to satisfy him. He needs at least eight clients if they all come regularly and give their maximum allowance. So, it doesn't matter if he's just a little thing you have on the side. That's all you could ever be to him."

Hitomi felt deflated. "But he doesn't actually have to bite them, does he?"

"Folken lets people choose, so most people choose the needle the first time they meet him because he's very open about it. His fangs hurt more than the needle. However, no one ever chooses the needle again. The only reason anyone has it is because he insists that he needs some blood in a bottle as well. No one wants to do both, but everyone does it, because missing out on Folken's vampire kiss would be a huge letdown after listening to him sing."

"Is it really such a big deal?"

"Yes. It's a huge deal. And you know what? I am charmed at the idea of Van getting his own clientele, because that would mean that Folken wouldn't have to take on any additional clients. Right now he has eighteen, besides his wife-like-person. Not only that, but something amazing might happen when Van bites you. You could learn how all those weird fragments of vision fit together to form a whole. I'll go with you when you're ready to go. Folken can bite me anytime because I'm immortal, so I don't have to wait for the eight week mark."

Hitomi thought about that for a minute. This was a lot to take in. She had been putting whether she believed it or not on hold, but things were starting to get a little too confusing if she didn't believe it. At least this had offered her a little guidance and an idea on how to proceed. Now she just needed to figure out what she wanted.

"Is Folken immortal?" Hitomi asked suddenly, thinking of Van.

Naria shook her head. "But that doesn't mean he can't live forever. The sirens who were originally cursed are still alive and still beautiful from what I understand. I expect that Folken and Van will be just as long lived, but if someone were to attack them violently, then I don't think they would survive. Neither would their mothers. I heal instantly. They would die. The problem with half sirens is that they aren't as vicious as their cursed mothers – not so good at defending themselves. To say Raidne is brutal would be an understatement. She's cruel to degrees that you and I simply wouldn't understand. I don't think she'd have the tiniest problem killing her sons, which is probably why they are the only two living right now. They can't be the only children she's ever had. So, Van and Folken are not evil, and even though both of them would love to drain a woman dry because of their hunger, both of them will stop before she's in danger, because they aren't murderers. Their one wish is to save their bloodline from the curse."

"How do they do that?"

Naria puffed a lock of hair out of her eyes. "I have no idea."

Just then, Eriya stalked back into the room. "He's busy. He had a 'prior engagement' or some such crap. But, I still want to try this out. He says he'll meet us at the campus club this Friday, so you'd better be there, Hitomi."

"What about the Occult's Addict's meeting?"

"Cancelled," both girls said immediately and in unison.

"Huh?"

"I'm the president and I can do what I want," Naria said, sticking her tongue out.

"But …"

"Listen, Hitomi," Eriya said seriously. "I'm the voice of reason. I always make more sense than she does. She always looks at life like it's made of honey. You can trust me to tell you when things are amiss and I'm telling you – it's not often we get the chance to party with Mr. Fassa. The witches will be happy. It'll be a fetching good time."

Hitomi swallowed. She hadn't been to the campus night club before. Let alone to party with an unknown guy who was supposed to kiss her at the end of the night as part of some weird experiment. Maybe she'd made a mistake involving these two after all.

"I'd better call Dil," she said, trying to catch her breath.

* * *

Author's Notes: Okay, I didn't have a beta reader this time around, so there are probably lots of mistakes, but I went through it several times and tried to catch them all. Well, I'm not perfect. Anyway, my forum is up. It's called Shivering Wings and it's accessible through my profile. My poll is also on my profile page. Oh, and I want to do a small shout out to all my Canadian fans. I'm Canadian and it does my heart good to see so many hits from Canadian readers. Thanks, eh? (I know - horrible, horrible, horrible joke, eh?) Anyway, thanks to all readers who review, visit the forums, vote and put me on their favourites and alert lists. You make me feel super special. LOVE!

* * *


	16. Not the Red Cross

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne. But someday I'll own something.

* * *

**Chapter 16**

**Not the Red Cross**

The lofty ceiling over the cafeteria in the science building arched over Hitomi's head. The snow had stopped and instead they were visited by dreary rain. It splattered on the glass like tiny pinpricks. This would probably be the last rainfall of this year. Hitomi wasn't getting older, the year was just passing.

She didn't have classes for two hours, so she was waiting for Dilandau to meet her for lunch. It was already Wednesday and she hadn't seen much of him. He had sent her a few text messages apologizing that he didn't visit or call. Apparently, he had a lot of work to do. Hitomi didn't care that he neglected her. She needed time to think.

Thinking about it objectively, she realized that the only reason she'd made it this far in her strange relationship with Van and the members of the Occult's Addict was that somewhere in her head, she believed this was all a game. Van was right when he told her that she wouldn't have been interested in him if he wasn't something unusual. Ever since she left her parents, she had been looking for something strange and dark and wonderful to happen. She thought she'd found it. It was a shame Van wasn't for her.

So far, her love affair with Dilandau hadn't been much of anything. She should care that he didn't call or stop by, but she didn't. She felt like this was the way a relationship should be, calm and steady, instead of suffering from a panic attack every time you thought of your boyfriend touching you. Dilandau was safe, comfortable, and fathoms deep in love with her, but there was still something wrong. There was still the man she dreamt of when Dilandau kissed her, and man that frightened her. Sure, she could avoid him by only receiving the briefest of kisses from Dilandau, but what happened when their relationship needed to move to the next level? That was where Hitomi hit a block. If there wasn't a way to end the visions, then there wasn't a way for them to be together. That was a fact.

Hitomi put her cheekbone in her palm and strummed the table with her fingertips when she saw Dilandau come in the side door. In the sea of brown and black hair he looked like an angel. His hair made blondes look like brunettes. In such a crowded place, no one should have noticed him who wasn't watching for him specifically, but Hitomi saw heads turn. She knew he was looking for her. The way he moved through the crowd was completely mellow. Even his eyes were cool as he surveyed the room looking for her. Could anyone in the world be more normal? Yet Van and now Naria and Eriya were convinced that he wasn't human.

Hitomi put a welcoming little smile on her face as she watched him in case he saw her, but he continued to miss her as he circled his way around the room.

A sudden glint of sunlight broke through the clouds and through the transparent ceiling. It lit up Dilandau's face and his eyes shone bright red. For a split second it looked like they were bleeding.

She jumped in her chair and Dilandau noticed her.

He came over immediately and took a seat. "Hello Hitomi, you look gorgeous." He bent and kissed her cheek, then her ear, and then her neck. "Thanks for waiting for me. It's been a hard week."

She gazed at him curiously across the cafeteria table and asked slyly, "What have you been doing? I find it hard to believe that you need to study. You predicted my mark on that one paper so accurately; I just assumed you were super smart."

His head cocked to the side strangely. "I don't like to draw attention to that."

"So, what have you been doing?" Hitomi asked logically.

"Celena needs my tutorage. I promised her I'd help her get good marks. That's all. I can't let her down. Wait. You're not mad, are you?"

"No. I saw at the party how important your relationship with her is. I'm cool with it."

He leaned back in his chair. "Okay then. Thanks."

"Oh, did Naria tell you? The meeting for this week has been cancelled."

Dilandau snorted. "Yeah, she told me."

"Well, we were going to meet at the campus night club, but then the guy, Dryden, I guess, decided that he wanted to go to this private club downtown, so we're going there instead. Are you coming with me or am I going stag?"

He looked like he was going to groan, his face looked so pained. "Do you have to go? Can't you just come over to my hotel that night? We could watch a movie and over room service and … and …"

"And?"

"And," he said, putting his hands over Hitomi's while looking in her eyes. "And I could keep you away from the biggest man whore this town has ever seen."

Hitomi laughed. She gripped Dilandau's hands and leaned forward. "Not a chance. I want to meet this guy. From Eriya's description I would be missing out big time if I stayed away. You've met him, right?"

"A couple times a really long time ago. I haven't talked to him lately. I saw him across a muggy bar once last year and that was all I needed. If I'm like the moon, then he's the sun; he drowns me out."

"I still plan to go. After neglecting me this whole week, you can't be mad if I make my own plans when it comes to the weekend."

"I guess not. Okay, I'll come," Dilandau said at last. "Even if it's only to drop you off and make sure you get back to the dorms safely. I wouldn't want you to have to take a bus back to campus and then have to call for a safe walk, now would I?"

"Do you really want to keep me away from Van? You know, I wouldn't stay away from you when he asked me to."

"Really?" Dilandau said, looking honestly moved.

"Really. So don't you be as dumb as him and get all fidgety if I happen to say 'hello' to him, kay? It wouldn't be cool."

Dilandau reached across the table and placed the shortest of kisses on her mouth. "I adore you. You go ahead and be as cool as you want to be about him. Show him that he didn't break you."

Hitomi looked into Dilandau's face with regret. He was asking her what she wanted to eat, but she could hardly focus. If she couldn't get control of her feelings, everyone was going to get hurt, and it would be all her fault.

* * *

The next day, Naria invited Hitomi for lunch at the campus pub. Hitomi was surprised, because Naria had not sought her out like this before, but since dinner on Sunday, Naria had phoned Hitomi twice just to ask if she'd seen Van. She was so disappointed when Hitomi had to admit that she hadn't seen hide, or hair, not text, or email from him.

Naria sighed in exasperation.

Now Hitomi gazed at the grim expanse and grey buildings that made up the campus in November. But no matter how overcast it was outside, Naria wore gold and the rose of her cheeks made her look like a goddess.

"Are you all set for tomorrow?" she asked Hitomi with a grin. "Have a killer dress to wear to the club we're going to? It's a pretty quiet place, but you'll regret it if you don't wear the right thing."

"Nah, I got it covered. I bought a couple new dresses this fall."

"Good. Then there won't be any last minute costume struggles." Naria stopped and looked at Hitomi expectantly. "Actually, there's one more thing I wanted to mention to you."

"Which is?"

"Folken called me last night. He has a bit of a problem. One of his clients quit. I told him before that if he ever had a vacancy that I'd fill it. He still doesn't want me to come in more than once every eight weeks like everyone else. I think he wants to keep me at arms' length, but he's got an emergency, so he's asking me to come in just this one extra time. Do you want to come with me?"

Hitomi shrunk in her chair. "Oh, I don't know how I feel about that."

"I told you. The fact that you're with Dilandau doesn't matter. We can do the whole thing with a needle and a tube if you want. Of course, you won't get the benefit of being bitten, but that's your choice."

"Do they really drink blood?"

Naria nodded. "You bet they do."

Hitomi fumbled with her napkin. "Can I watch Van drink it?"

"I'm sure that could be arranged. Does that mean you'll come?"

Hitomi rubbed the inside of her left elbow with her thumb. She guessed that was where there were going to draw the blood from. "I guess a pinprick is a small price to pay to get some answers. But I'm not _cheating_ on Dilandau. I want my deal to be with Folken instead of Van."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that I want to hear Folken sing and I want to watch Van drink my blood," Hitomi said, gaining confidence.

"Okay. Great. I'll call Folken and let him know what you want. I'm sure he won't mind. He's very liberal as long as what's requested of him doesn't infringe upon his treaty with Merle, and this won't. I'll come by and pick you up at about two tomorrow afternoon. You don't have class, do you?"

"I have a study group," Hitomi admitted.

"Skip it."

* * *

The next day Hitomi stood waiting in front of Folken's apartment building. It was cold out, but from the flush on Naria's face, it was clear that she didn't feel a thing. She was bouncing on the balls of her feet, clutching the edges of her orange fluffy scarf like she was fifteen again and ringing the doorbell of her crush.

Hitomi didn't know if she'd ever felt that kind of open excitement to see the guy she liked. Usually she was overwrought, and couldn't enjoy the moment.

"Excited much?" Hitomi asked.

"Well, you know. I haven't seen him in a few weeks. He lets me come see him whenever I want, but I try to stay away, even though it's hard. I think I'm a bit of a strain on his home life."

"Why?"

"Because, I'm the solution to all his problems," Naria said with a wink. "If I could be his girlfriend, he wouldn't need any other donors. He could be faithful to only one woman – me! Right now, he's not allowed to treat me differently than any of his other donors or Merle would spazz. He really loves his daughter. It would be adorable if she didn't despise him."

"Yeah, I sort of got that impression from Van," Hitomi admitted.

"Don't get the wrong idea, I sympathize with her. I don't know how I'd react to having a father like Folken. The father Eriya and I grew up with isn't my dad or hers. He's our step-dad. He married my mother when we were four, so I actually remember a little about life before he entered the scene. The point is he's a middle-aged father figure who isn't remotely attractive in a sexual kind of way. I love him, but if he was stuck in time and didn't age at the same rate at my mother … Not to mention the way Merle's friends drool over Folken like he's eye-candy when they visit. I think she stopped introducing them when she was in her mid teens and she stays away from him by living with her mother most of the time."

"That sounds very lonely for Folken."

"Well, after you hear him sing, you're going to forget about everything I just said. It's hard to imagine that someone so talented could have trouble with his daughter."

The buzz sounded and Naria tugged on the door. They went in and waited in the boot room.

"Let's just wait here until they come down," Naria suggested.

Looking up the staircase, Hitomi saw Van and Folken coming down the stairs. Van was dressed in an extremely fitted black T-shirt with long sleeves and dark blue jeans that were partially torn. His hair spiked up a little in the front and Hitomi's breath caught in her throat. Why did he always have to look so perfect? True, he wasn't wearing Armani, but with Van, it really didn't matter what he wore.

Folken was wearing a white lab coat, a white collared shirt underneath, and a pair of light grey trousers. Folken looked great in white. It matched his hair and made him look like a doctor … who was about to sprout wings.

Suddenly, Hitomi felt lucky just to be there.

"Hi Naria," Folken said pleasantly, as he took her gloved hand. "And thank you for coming, Hitomi. Unfortunately, Merle isn't here today. She usually takes care of the medical side of our exchange, so you'll have to deal with me instead, but don't worry. I'm really good with needles. You won't feel a thing."

Van ground his teeth and grumbled.

"Come along," he said, taking them up the stairs to the first floor and through a door.

He led them into what really looked like the entrance to a theatre. There was a coat rack on one side and a bar on the other. Then there was a set of large double doors that led out the other side. This place was so strange. Were any of the floors ordinary in this building?

Folken took Naria's coat while Van helped Hitomi with hers.

"What's the matter, Van? You don't look happy," Hitomi said quietly while he hefted her coat off her shoulders.

"Oh, I'm fine," he said caustically.

Hitomi turned and gave him a puzzled look before Folken opened the double doors and took them into a theatre.

Van's hand was on Hitomi's back as he guided her through the doors.

"Okay. First, we need to get Hitomi on the machine," Folken said as he opened another door leading away from the seating.

Inside this room, there was a reclining chair with blue vinyl covering it. Beside it was a white machine Hitomi recognized. There had been one in Van's room the day Folken had locked her in.

"Are you right handed?" Folken asked, indicating for Hitomi to sit down.

"Yeah," Hitomi said, getting on the chair.

"Then, do you want me to puncture your left arm?"

Hitomi nodded.

Folken went to the side wall and washed his hands and then put on a pair of latex gloves. Then he sat on a stool in front of Hitomi's chair and gave her a stress ball. Then he strapped her arm to the arm rest and got out a plastic bottle and put it on the white machine.

"What's that for?" she asked, pointing to the machine.

"Oh, it's nothing. It just sloshes the blood back and forth and stops it from clotting. Okay, I'm just about ready," he said as he meddled with a couple of plastic tubes. "You've never given blood before. Am I right?"

"Yeah."

"Are you nervous?" he asked, looking caringly into her eyes.

"A little," she admitted.

"Are you cold?"

"U-huh," she mumbled.

"Van, get her a blanket," he instructed calmly. Then he swivelled slightly on his stool and continued, "I would have let you leave your coat on, except that I need your arm bare. Sorry."

Van brought her a purple fuzzy blanket and gently covered her. She thanked him while Folken swabbed her inner arm.

"Okay. Are you ready?" Folken asked.

Hitomi nodded.

"Wait," Folken exclaimed. "I forgot the permission forms. That's why Merle usually does this. I can't keep my mind on wavers when I'm about to sing. Van, can you get them?"

Van brought Hitomi a paper on a clipboard.

"What am I agreeing to?" she asked, scanning the page.

"You're just agreeing to allow Folken to draw your blood and he promises to use entirely new equipment and follow all accepted medical practices. It's simple."

Hitomi signed her name and had this curious feeling like she was signing a deal with the Devil. Even though Hitomi felt a little spiral of fear curl itself around her spinal cord, she didn't want to leave. She wanted to see where this road went and how it ended.

"Now that that's done, we can get started. You should look away while I do this," Folken advised, needle in hand.

Hitomi turned and looked at Van, while Folken inserted the needle.

"All done," Folken said as he finished taping her arm.

He was right, she didn't feel a thing.

Then he stood up and took off his gloves. "Now, you'll need to move your arm a little from time to time, so gently squeeze the stress ball and roll it around with your fingers."

"Okay."

"Good job, Hitomi. You didn't even lose your colour," Naria praised as she stood beside Van.

Hitomi looked at her arm and saw the tube fill with blood and empty into the bag that was now rocking back and forth.

Folken sat in a chair on the other side of the room and picked up a magazine, but as soon as he was no longer busy, Naria was eying him.

"Just go over there," Hitomi tried to say subtly, but she couldn't prevent Van from hearing.

Naria didn't need encouragement. She gave Hitomi a wink and went to sit next to him.

Once she was gone, Van leaned forward and said quietly, "So, that's why you're here? Because Naria asked you to come?"

"No. But her coming with me certainly helped give me the courage. Except, I think she feels like I'm making a mistake not letting you bite me the first time."

"Maybe she's not as wretched as I thought she was," Van said dryly.

"Now why would you have a problem with Naria?" Hitomi wanted to know.

"It's nothing … much," Van shrugged.

Hitomi guessed that it probably had something to do with Merle, but decided not to say anything. It wasn't like it was her problem.

"So, this whole apartment building is built just to house your special needs?" Hitomi asked, by way of changing the subject.

"Well, yeah. The basement is the pool. The first floor is the theatre. The second and third floors are apartments and the fourth floor is Folken's private apartment."

"So, there are apartments in this place?" Hitomi asked, a little surprised.

"Well, this building isn't exactly brand new, but the pool was added fifteen years ago. That was the most recent renovation. I'm sure you noticed that the theatre isn't in the best condition. It was last done in the late seventies, before I was born, but Folken didn't exactly have the same needs back then. He had a different set-up."

"What was it like back then?"

"Well, his donors used to live here in their own private apartments and he'd put on a performance for an hour or so every night for all of them."

"There sure are a lot of seats," Hitomi commented, thinking the place housed at least fifty people. "How many suites are there?"

"Only about twenty, but they didn't like to sit beside each other, so he had to build the theatre so they wouldn't have to rub elbows. I understand that he had quite a bit of trouble with rivalry between his girls before Melanie got pregnant with Merle. It was all over after that. He tossed out everyone and the rooms have pretty much been empty since then."

"How did he survive after they all left? Didn't he still need blood?" Hitomi wondered.

"Well, he had stores of frozen blood that he'd been putting away for awhile, so it wasn't like he was destitute. He knew his little set-up couldn't last forever and he learned to satiate his thirst by drinking grenadine and eating pomegranates. It wasn't the end of the world and eventually, he got the system he has now. And he got Merle."

Hitomi nodded slowly.

"Keep moving your fingers," Van instructed.

"I'm wiggling them!" she retorted. "Hey, I was wondering. Can you take me down to the pool sometime? I'd really like to go for a swim there if it isn't against the rules." She wanted to feel how the water would feel to her skin since it was intended for sirens. She still had the thought in her mind that maybe she was one, too.

"What are you talking about? You're a donor now, which pretty much means we'll let you walk all over us the day you give blood. Especially since this is your first time and your blood is for me. Giving me my first donation means a lot. You've given me a 'get out of jail free' card with my mother. Sure, you can take a dip in the pool if you want to."

"If you're so happy that I came and that I'm doing this, why are you acting so sour?"

"I'm not acting sour!"

"You are."

He rolled his eyes and huffed gloom. "Sue me. I'm disappointed that you asked especially for Folken to sing to you this afternoon and not me. Would you mind telling me why you decided something like that, because I'm pretty upset about it?"

"Well," she said, licking her bottom lip. "I thought it would be better for my relationship with Dilandau to do it this way, because you implied that even listening to a siren singing would be considered cheating. I just decided to treat the whole thing like a massage. See, if Dilandau went to his old girlfriend for a massage, I'd feel like he was cheating, but if he went to someone he didn't know to get one, I wouldn't mind."

Van stared at her with his mouth slightly open, staring. "O-kay," he said finally. "I guess if you want to look at it that way."

"But, I'm not really here to listen to anything. I really want to watch you drink my blood once it's finished draining. That's what I'm here for."

"Well, we could unhook it from the bag and I could drink directly from the tube like it's a straw."

"Don't joke," Folken interjected, coming up behind Van and having a look at Hitomi. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," Hitomi said, purposefully flexing her fingers around the stress ball.

"Good. Don't let what he said worry you. We'll keep our end of the contract and drain your blood professionally. It looks like you're about half done, so just hang in there."

"You know, I think you'd make a really good doctor," Hitomi said suddenly to Folken. His manner was so gentle and soothing – he could make anyone feel confidence in him.

Folken's lips almost turned white when Hitomi said that. "No. I wouldn't, and neither would Van. It would be too much of a temptation to resist." Then he turned and walked back to Naria.

Hitomi gawked after him open-mouthed.

"He doesn't mean what you think he means," Van said as soon as Folken's back was turned. "Neither of us would be tempted to bite anyone. We're the same as you. Even if you're starving, you would still have the willpower to resist food even if it was right in front of you, right?"

"I think so."

"He means that he would be tempted to sing to ease someone's pain. The only problem is that pain is a very effective tool to gauge how hurt someone is. So, it wouldn't mix." Van exhaled heavily and then he said, "I wanted to ask you something about Dilandau."

"What? Not that I'll necessarily answer you. It's none of your business."

"Right," Van said without worry. "I just wondered if he'd asked you to marry him or anything like that."

"I'm eighteen! Who would want to marry an eighteen year-old?"

"I would," Van sighed, "if the eighteen year-old was you."

"What about the woman who is supposed to show up somewhere in your future?" Hitomi asked breathlessly.

"Hmm … I have given a lot of thought to what I'm going to do about her. I'll deal with her when she shows up, but don't let her bother you. I won't be unfaithful."

"And what about your blood drinking, cheating ways? You need at least eight regular donors to survive, don't you?"

"With you, I'm hoping that I won't need any," he said quietly.

Then it hit her. Hitomi put a hand to her mouth. She was shivering. Van thought she was immortal - like Naria.

* * *

_Author's Notes: Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I got some really encouraging reviews and some had some really terrific insights. Thank you. So, for this chapter - I had no beta reader. Who knows if I'll ever have one again. So, there are probable mistakes. Yup. My forum is available through my profile page and so is my poll about whether or not Van's hot. Isn't it great that he's finally in this chapter when he wasn't in the last one? I like it better when Van's around acting and looking the way he does in my head. It might be just me, but I have a good head for imagining Van. Anyway, I'm getting bored with the pace I'm releasing chapters at, so I might have to update more often. I'm starting to want this story in the bank, so we'll see. It's probably just September blues creeping up on me. So BLUE! Thanks again everyone for visiting and reviewing. LOVE!_


	17. Strumming Heartstrings

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne. And I don't own this song. But this is a killer chapter and I'm really proud to release it.

* * *

**Chapter 17**

**Strumming Heartstrings**

_Featuring 'Stay' by Cause and Effect_

Van brought Hitomi another blanket when he noticed she was shivering. "Sorry," he said calmly. "It's so cold in here. You should probably come back tomorrow if you want to go swimming … actually, come next week. It takes the human body four or five days to replace the amount of blood we're taking, so you'll feel strong again by then."

Hitomi put her free hand to her mouth and bit the side of her index finger. She wasn't shivering because she was cold. She was shivering because of what he'd just said. She thought that maybe Van had been thinking along the same lines as her – that she was part siren – but what he just said made her doubt it. So, what did he think? That she was like Naria and one of her parents was immortal? She didn't have any birth secrets. She had no memories before she tried to kill herself, but that didn't change the fifteen scrapbooks her mother had made of their family before she lost her memory. There were tons of pictures of her with her parents. There was no way her parents weren't her parents.

Just then, Folken came to check on her. "You're done. Let's get you unhooked. Good job, Hitomi. For a first time donor, you were very brave. Some girls squeal a lot about the pain."

"It was fine," Hitomi said as Folken tugged the tape off her arm.

Within seconds, she was free from the machine with a piece of gauze and tape over her puncture wound. Folken handed Van the tube and Van sucked the tiny remnant of red liquid out of it like he was a child licking his mother's icing beaters when she frosted a cake.

"Okay," Folken said, "let's go to the bar. We have to keep the second half of our deal."

Van helped Hitomi up from the chair with one hand and took the plastic bottle of blood from Folken with the other.

"Congratulations Van! I'll see that your left wrist doesn't get broken," Folken said kindly.

"Why would his wrist get broken?" Naria interjected.

"Family joke," Folken said to Naria, but his eyes stayed on Van and they looked serious.

Hitomi felt a little light headed as they went back through the theatre to the coat room with the bar. She leaned into Van and let him lead her to a bar stool. Then Van went behind the bar while Folken and Naria took seats beside Hitomi. From under the counter, Van brought out two shot glasses and clunked them down. He unplugged the plastic bag and filled both shots. He slid one towards Folken and said, "For your approval."

"Thanks," Folken said, picking it up.

"Wait," Naria said, grabbing Folken's arm. "What are you doing?"

"I'm tasting it. Don't worry, Honey, it won't spoil my appetite."

When Hitomi saw Naria's distress, she grumbled and then gathered her courage to say what was on her mind. "They want to find out if I'm immortal. If I'm right, Folken has never shared your blood with Van. When he drains a little off the top, he's putting it away for a rainy day. Van probably has no idea what immortal blood tastes like."

Naria looked slightly horrified. "Is that true?"

Folken raised his eyebrows and clucked his tongue on the roof of his mouth. "Yeah, that's how it is. You're not mad, are you?"

Naria stared at him blankly for a moment. At last, she finally stuttered, "I … I think I am. You've been lying to me all this time about needing blood for your brother. And what about the emergency? If you've been saving it then you don't need to drink my blood today."

Folken put the shot glass back on the bar undrunk and said unflinchingly, "I did not lie about today. It just wasn't _my_ emergency. I'm sure you can put two and two together, Naria. If Hitomi came today and continues to come than there's no need for me to replace the donor who quit. You want me to have fewer donors, don't you?"

Naria squirmed and bit her lip.

"It's okay, Naria," Hitomi heard herself saying. "You don't have to give him your blood today if you don't want to."

"I'll think about it," she said, averting her eyes and turning slightly on the bar stool.

It was then that Hitomi noticed Van. His hand was to his forehead, and she noticed a thin line of perspiration. He was still holding his glass, waiting, sweating and silently losing his mind over the small amount of warm blood under his nose.

Folken seemed to notice, too, and he gave Van a nod to continue. Folken would know how he was suffering.

"Bottom's up," Van said tightly, just before he drained his glass.

Folken drank his at the same time, and the two brothers slammed their glasses down on the bar. Their eyes locked as though trying to gauge what the other thought.

"You go first," Folken said at last.

Van started pouring another glass. "I've never tasted such young blood, but it didn't exactly have that tang of innocence some of the blood you bring me has."

"No," Folken said, sniffing the inside of his cup.

Hitomi was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable and yet strangely special. It was almost like having your fortune told, having two sirens taste your blood in order to figure out your personality.

Folken licked out the inside of his shot and then turned to Hitomi. "Not to burst your bubble, but this isn't immortal blood. Not only does it not taste right, but Naria's blood changes colour after about fifteen minutes. It turns golden and looks more like honey than blood."

Van took another swig and after he swished it around in his mouth he said, "This blood is tainted. I need a different glass." He fumbled around under the bar until he pulled out a large brandy glass. It was big enough to double as a fish bowl. He poured the rest of Hitomi's blood into it, squashing it carefully so that it emptied completely, and began swishing the glass back and forth.

"Don't forget the rubber spatula. You don't want to miss a drop," Folken advised dryly.

"Wait a second, Van," Hitomi protested. "What do you mean my blood is tainted? I don't have any diseases or anything."

"He means," Folken said carefully, "that your blood is sinful."

"Violent sins," Van clarified, after swallowing another mouthful. "Self mutilation, I think."

"How can you tell that?" Hitomi gasped, rising unconsciously from her chair and gaping at Van.

"I can tell a lot more about your blood than that. Just give me a minute," he said, sniffing the blood again.

"Like what? That I'm a descendant of Medusa?"

"Har har," Van said, drinking heavily.

"No," Folken said rationally. "I think that's a legitimate question. Obviously, there are not only gods and humans in this world, so if you did have a little mythical blood in you, Van would be able to taste it."

"One hundred percent human," Van said when his mouth was free again.

"I thought so, too," Folken said, giving Hitomi a curious gaze.

Hitomi felt her whole body fall in disappointment when she heard their words. She had counted on her theory being correct. She lowered herself back onto the stool.

"Yet tragic," Van said appreciatively. "Oh, so tragic, like a sorrowful love song that was sung only once, like a tender young woman executed unjustly, like moonlight on the water eaten by a storm – that's what you taste like. There's so little defiance in your blood. It's a wonder you've made it this far. You allow yourself to be crushed and manipulated by anyone stronger than you, but it wasn't always this way," Van whispered, like he was seeing something beyond the room they were sitting in. "That's where the self mutilation comes into play. It's ironic that the only way you can stand up for yourself is by holding yourself hostage."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Hitomi rasped, feeling she was being rushed at by dozens of wild bulls. Was he telling the truth she had only guessed at regarding her missing years? But she continued on like there was no possibility that he had hit the mark. "I've never once hurt myself."

"You've done far worse than that," he whispered. "It's no good, Hitomi. You can't have your innocence back, and now that I've drunk this, there is no way I'll let you pretend that you have it. The mask has to come off and you have to become who you really are. You won't forgive me beyond this point if I don't strip you of the little lie you feed yourself to keep yourself safe."

"What are you talking about? What do you know about me before I was thirteen?"

Naria gasped. "You mean he doesn't know what you did?"

"No," Hitomi said, keeping her eyes on Van. "I never told a soul before I told everyone at the Halloween party."

Folken suddenly grabbed Hitomi's upper arm and forced her to look at him. His voice was coarse as he roughly questioned, "What did you do?"

When Folken opened his mouth to say 'what' Hitomi saw his fangs. There were red lines around his teeth where he had drunk her blood and his breath smelt nauseating – hot and coppery.

Hitomi stifled her gagging reflex and covered her mouth and nose.

"Relax," Van said quietly, before Folken lost his temper. "Let her go. There's nothing to get agitated about."

"Isn't there?" Folken asked, loosening his grip on Hitomi's arm.

"Not a thing," Van said, right before he lifted his goblet unreasonably high and drained the rest of her blood. Then he did as Folken said and got out a green rubber spatula to clean every drop of blood out of his goblet and shot glass. "Thank you, Hitomi, for coming today and being such a good sport."

Hitomi smiled weakly at him. She didn't know what to say.

Van suddenly perked up like he just remembered something. "But I'm being a very bad host. You need to eat something sweet, Hitomi. I forgot because I was so excited. What would you like? Normally, we have every decadent desert imaginable. Let's see," he said, ducking to root around under the bar. "But let's get you started on a couple cookies." He brought up several packages and let Hitomi choose one.

She took a coconut cream and started munching away. She didn't realize she had been feeling so weak until she put the cookie in her mouth. Now her body sensed how much she needed the sugar, and she started chewing faster.

"Right now," Van said. "We have cheesecake, chocolate cake, carrot cake, cinnamon buns with cream cheese icing, and apple crisp. Which one do you want?"

"Carrot cake," Hitomi answered immediately and Van brought out a piece on a tiny plate that was neatly covered in plastic wrap.

He peeled the plastic off and handed her a fork before giving it to her. "Sorry that it's from a bakery, but we don't cook anything here."

"That's okay," Hitomi said, sinking the fork into the cake. "It looks pretty fancy though, even if it is bought."

"Only the best for our donors," Folken said calmly to Hitomi. He seemed to have settled down since his outburst. Then he turned to ask Naria, "Which would you like for an 'after' snack?"

"The cheesecake … But wait! I haven't agreed to let you bite me," she said, realizing her blunder.

"Then go back into the office and rip up the wavers you already signed," he said without emotion. "I promised Hitomi a show so you can sit in on it if you'd like. I really appreciate you taking time out of your day to accompany her and helping us make her feel safe. Van will be floating on a cloud for a week."

"Yes, thank you," Van said sincerely, looking into Naria's face.

Naria seemed reluctant.

"I've got a good idea, Brother," Van said, before Naria could answer the biting question. "I think you need an opening act. You can't just walk up and start singing without a little fanfare first, right?"

"What did you have in mind?" Folken asked. Then he smiled slightly with his lips pressed together firmly.

"I could open for you. What do you think of that?"

"An excellent idea," Folken said, getting up and putting his hand on the small of Naria's back. "Then there's no reason not to get started right away. Hitomi, just bring that food into the theatre with you."

They all headed into the theatre, and Van carried a small platter of cookies and apple juice with him. Folken led them to the front row and Van set up a little tray for Hitomi's food to rest on. When Hitomi was comfortably seated, Van jumped up on the platform and started tinkering with a small wall of electronic equipment.

Folken sat next to Hitomi and brought Naria down to take the chair next to him. "Behind that curtain are my instruments. Van likes to sing to electronic melodies because then he can have the accompaniment of several instruments, so he programs it himself with my computer. Van's modern, while my performance afterwards will be more classical. I like the strings, so I play the harp, the violin and the guitar. Which would you like me to play?"

Hitomi's sip of apple juice went all wrong and she was wheezing and hissing while Folken patted her on the back. When she had finally caught her breath, she wiped her mouth with a napkin Van put on the tray for her and said, "Please let Naria choose."

"But it's _you _I'm trying to please," Folken said evenly. "It really means a lot to us that you took the leap to come here. Let me cater to you."

Hitomi glanced over Folken's shoulder to see Naria's face. She was biting the flesh of her thumb and looking openly restless in her chair. Hitomi couldn't make her miserable by accepting any more of Folken's attention. It was obviously making her uncomfortable.

"Actually, I don't really care if I'm sung to or not. If I were to be rewarded somehow for doing this, then I think you've already given me what I was searching for. I wanted to know if I was really an ordinary human and you've told me. Thank you. But I don't need all this."

Van had stopped what he was doing and was now standing at the edge of the stage paying close attention.

"How will we get you to come back in eight weeks if you don't accept payment from us?" Folken asked smoothly – his coral coloured eyes narrowing slightly.

Hitomi scratched her hurt arm nervously and averted her eyes. It was a moment before she had the nerve to say, "I hadn't exactly planned to come a second time."

"Would you rather be paid money for your blood?" Folken continued. "Our song is generally considered more valuable than money, but we cater to the needs of our donors. Do you need money?"

"Isn't that normally around twenty bucks if you go to a clinic?"

"All donations are volunteered. Not even clinics pay for blood anymore. I wasn't talking about twenty dollars. Are you in some kind of trouble? Do you need money to clear up some debt or do you have an unexpected expense?"

"No. I've just been a little on the poorer side lately. It's nothing serious."

"She can't have money problems," Naria said dryly. "Her boyfriend is Dilandau. He would take care of anything she needed."

Folken shot Van a worried glance.

In return, Van nodded slowly.

"Look, let's forget about all that," Van said. "Listen, Hitomi. Give me a chance. I'll sing something and then you can see how you feel about being paid by a private concert. Clearly, I want you to come back in eight weeks. So, let me convince you with my song."

"Wait!" Hitomi said, arching her back and sitting up in her chair. "Didn't people do suicidal things for sirens just because they sang?"

"Well, yes," Van said, trying to keep his mirth in check. "Don't be afraid. It won't make you want to jump out of Naria's car on the way home. It will only make you want to stay glued to your chair until I'm finished, okay? It's not scary. And it isn't some strange form of mind control. It's just beautiful. Okay? Can I get started?"

Hitomi looked around nervously.

"There's nothing to worry about," Naria said. "It's fine. I promise." She clearly wanted to hear their concert.

Hitomi settled back into her chair and nodded to Van.

"And hey," Van said as he fiddled with a few more knobs on the control panel. "If you're unimpressed, I can always have you over next week for swimming."

"Can't I have that anyway?"

Van flipped a switch and the lights went out. In the soft darkness she heard his voice like it was dancing in an unfelt wind. "I'll give you anything you want."

Then a little white light started flickering on the ceiling and against the curtains. Then something appeared over the center of the stage. It was like a spot light, but the light was not constant. Instead, bits flashed and flipped on and off. It was almost like Van was being rained on by a blue light.

And the music began.

But the gorgeously balanced sounds of percussion and electronic instruments were nothing to the power and scope of his voice. Hitomi sat up in her chair and saw Van like she had never seen him before, like she had never understood one thing about him until his moment – and he was not the man she thought he was.

_Half asleep but hardly sleeping  
In the night I heard her breathing - all around  
Stopped the thoughts of razored ending  
All the things the gods been sending - bring me down  
She spoke to me with words of velvet  
Showed me things that I'd not seen yet  
Said the things I'd wanted to say  
Yesterday she lay beneath me  
Came with kiss and came to save me  
Yesterday was easy 'cause  
Yesterday gave reason to stay_

The music changed as the tempo sped up and the room exploded in those tiny fragments of light.

_I don't want to leave you now  
I don't want to leave…_

Van closed his eyes often as he sang and when he opened them he gazed directly into Hitomi's awestruck eyes. It felt like Hitomi had missed an entire portion of his personality before. She hadn't seen this much beauty. It wasn't his face or body anymore, but something inside his soul that spoke of deep reservoirs of intense feeling. How had she missed him?

Hitomi's throat tightened. Her breath became shallow and the only thing she could feel was the sound of Van's voice breaking down her barriers. Why had she even bothered to keep him out?

The beatslowed down again for the verse and the light once again fell only on Van.

_Half asleep but hardly sleeping  
Universe was on my ceiling - spinning 'round  
All the stars and all the rockets  
All the hands that find my pockets - common ground  
In a book I started reading  
Saw the things that I'd been feeling  
Closed my eyes and tore out the page  
Yesterday I saw her sleeping  
Killed the things upon my ceiling  
Yesterday was easy 'cause  
Yesterday gave reason to stay_

The melody rose again with great emotion and as the light again flooded the room in what looked like silver rain. Hitomi stood up. He said she would be pinned to her chair, but she had to get up. She couldn't stop herself from dancing. Her arms were over her head and she let her eyelids fall as she swung her hips to the rhythm.

_I don't want to leave you now  
I don't want to leave  
Yesterday gave reason to stay_

His voice felt closer now as she felt his hand caress the side of her face, the side that still had the lightest of bruises, grazing her skin. Hitomi felt rapture. She clung to his hand and kissed his fingers.

The beat slowed and he sang the next lines softly into her ear.

_Half asleep but hardly sleeping  
Sacrifices on my ceiling  
Close my eyes and burn down the stage  
Yesterday she lay beneath me  
Came with kiss and came to save me  
Yesterday was easy 'cause  
Yesterday gave reason to stay_

Hitomi stood perfectly still, holding carefully onto Van's arm to stop herself from falling to the floor.

_I don't want to leave you now  
I don't want to leave  
Yesterday gave reason to stay_

The music toned down and Van whispered the last words carefully into her ear.

_I feel I'm comin' down  
The universe is round_

Then the music stopped entirely and the lights came back on. Hitomi felt like she had just woken from a trance. She shook her head feeling a little bewildered.

Van's free hand stroked her back. "Perhaps I could continue the set and Naria and Folken could shove off for a few hours? Would that be okay?"

Hitomi nodded her head vigorously.

"No!" Naria interrupted, getting to her feet. "What have you done to her, Van?" she asked, sounding waspish.

"Nothing," he denied, staring back at her.

"Like Hell! She's like a zombie!"

"I didn't do anything to her!" he shouted back.

"Whatever! We have to go," Naria came over and specifically unwound Hitomi's hands finger-by-finger from around Van and forcefully pulled her loose.

Hitomi wanted to resist Naria, but she was too disoriented to realize exactly what was going on. She realized only two things as she was hustled out of the theatre and into the coat room. One was that Van did not struggle against Naria to keep her. The second was that she desperately did not want to be separated from him, but she was too weak to fight the strong arms that manoeuvred her swiftly out. She stood dazed as Naria helped her put on her coat.

Folken followed after them and spoke hasty words to Naria to appease her temper while Van stayed in the theatre. Hitomi wasn't sure, but it sounded like something was crashing to the floor. Was Van ripping the place apart? But Hitomi couldn't move – not to talk, not to fight back, and not to rush back to Van's side.

Naria pushed her thought the passages and out the front door. The cold air on Hitomi's face woke her up a little, enough to take a deep breath and stare hopelessly into the sky. She was distressed, but not strong enough to run back. The feeling could not have been described before this moment, but it felt like she loved Van so sharply that just the feeling alone would kill her.

Naria muscled her into the passenger seat of her car and helped Hitomi put on her seat belt.

"I'm so sorry," the blonde girl said earnestly. "I didn't know it would affect you like that. It was never like that for me … only a really good concert with a really beautiful man performing – nothing like that. I'm so sorry, Hitomi."

Hitomi didn't respond. Actually, she couldn't even focus on Naria's face and instead just stared straight ahead of her like she saw unseen angels.

Naria shut the car door briskly and when she got into her seat on the other side, she said, "Listen, I'll take you to my place and I'll call Dilandau. I'll tell him that you're coming to the club tonight with Eriya and me and he can meet us all there. I'll get you in one of my dresses and doll you up like a siren and … uh … sorry. I didn't mean to say that. Anyway, I'll fix this, Honey. I'll fix this."

Hitomi sat slumped in the car like a broken doll as Naria pulled away from Folken's building. Her eyes still wouldn't focus, so what she saw out of the corner of her eye may or may not have happened. Just at the last moment, she thought she saw Van burst out of the building and try to stop them. But, she was so confused that she might have imagined it.

* * *

_Author's Notes: Thanks to all my readers who read and review. I'm really grateful for all the wonderful support I get for this story. I still have my poll open on my profile about whether or not Van's hot. And I'm opening a new topic thread for this chapter on my forum, which is also available through my profile. I'll be doing that as soon as I release this, so right away. I also did not have a beta reader for this chapter so there may be an error or two though I read it carefully several times and made a few corrections. Thank you to everyone. Anyone else suffering from September blues? I'm blue like a blueberry who has yet to be picked._


	18. The Burning Rose

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne, but I did write this poem. And please forgive me - I had to use bars to show the distinction between verses in the poem. Sorry. I know it looks bad.

* * *

**Chapter 18**

**The Burning Rose**

Hitomi was still slightly dazed three hours later as she sat in Naria and Eriya's studio apartment. She wasn't spacing out anymore, but she couldn't pay attention to what they were saying. Eriya came out and showed Hitomi three pairs of shoes, but Hitomi little more than glanced at them before she turned again to the window. The traffic on the street below was more interesting to Hitomi than ten centimetre heels.

Finally, Naria slammed a monster-sized text book on the coffee table in front of Hitomi so that the bang sounded like a shot gun.

Hitomi jumped.

"So, what did Van do that was so amazing?" Naria asked crossly.

Hitomi let her head fall back and rolled her eyes. "Nothing, I guess."

Naria picked up the text book and prepared to chuck it at Hitomi.

Eriya grabbed it when Naria got to the highest point in the arch. "Are you crazy? You can't kill her! Calm down! We can go about this in an easy, peaceful manner."

"I already asked her peacefully!" Naria retorted angrily.

Hitomi watched them struggle over the weapon with her head still tilted back. Eriya was right – she was the more rational of the two.

It wasn't that Hitomi thought the twins wouldn't understand. From what she'd seen both of them were masters of unrequited love. The problem was that she just didn't feel like talking to them about it right then. What was she going to say? _I hoped that I was a siren, too. I was hoping that was the reason Van liked me._ Now that she knew that wasn't true, she was in a worse place with Van than Naria was with Folken. At least Naria knew that if she treaded water long enough than Folken could probably be hers. Hitomi didn't even have that. She saw now what Van saw when he wrote a blog ages ago that he said was about her. He said that any relationship between the two of them would end in ruin. Now she didn't doubt that Van knew what he was talking about. He was talking about Merle's mother, Melanie. Hitomi didn't need to meet her to realize that she was a shell of a woman who simply didn't know how to exist without Folken. That was why Merle had to protect her so fiercely.

If Hitomi gave into her love for Van – she'd become a broken shell as well and eventually, Van's desire for her would die, just as Folken's desire had died for Melanie.

The thing that stung like hellfire was that Van knew this. He had always known this. Yet, he had pursued their relationship, trying to keep it unsoiled by her blood. That was all shot once Van's mother insisted that he stop drinking Folken's bottled blood. Now he'd drunk Hitomi's blood and she'd discovered how impossible it was for her to resist him. And that she had nothing to offer him – one hundred percent human.

She wondered if Van was disappointed. He'd clearly had hopes, but he seemed reconciled to the conclusion after he had drunk her blood. Now she thought about what he said about taking away her innocence. What had he meant by that? She knew what he meant. He meant that she wasn't worth more than a donor to him and he had to let her know as quickly as possible. After he figured that out, he was determined to give her a good show, but that didn't mean that he had any special feelings for her – only that he wanted to be good to someone who donated blood for him. He told her before that they do practically anything for women the day they donate.

Hitomi glanced at Naria and Eriya still struggling and arguing.

She leaned forward and picked up a pair of slim black high heels. She had to make an effort at behaving like she was recovering or she would never get them off her back. She curled her fingers around the heel, thinking.

What was she going to do? She was forcing herself to act numb, like she felt when Naria took her away from their building, but now the numbness was falling away. She felt like she couldn't go back to Van, no matter how she much she wanted him, and she wanted him badly. It wouldn't do any good. He would probably reject her, because she wasn't the mystical creature he thought she was and she didn't want him to strip her of her innocence by telling her she wasn't right for him. If it meant being hurt worse than this by him, then she'd stay at home, or … she'd go to Dilandau.

That's right. She still had Dilandau. That thought seemed to snap her into awareness. That was right. She still had to get dressed, go to the club, and meet Dilandau.

With that, she nodded her head once and got to her feet.

"Naria, show me the dresses again. I'm going to pick one."

* * *

The club was called Hugo's and it was in a part of the city Hitomi had never been before. It was deep in the forest of skyscrapers. The host who ushered them in was one of the most beautiful women and well made-up women Hitomi had ever seen. Actually, all the waiters, waitresses and the bartender were all knock-outs. The seats were dark brown leather and the walls where tan and looked like they were made of suede. Unique track lights lit up each table and illuminated the most exquisite liquor glasses.

Hitomi steadied herself. Normally, she would have felt uncomfortable in such a place, but not tonight – not after Van's voice, his breath, his eyes, and the song he sang that still playing on repeat in her head.

Her outfit helped, too. She wore a black mermaid gown with a high neckline and deep cut sleeves. There were purple swirls embroidered with sparkling purple thread. Those impossibly high heels would have been the icing on the cake, if Eriya hadn't leant her long sparkling earrings.

Eriya went to great lengths for her appearance as well. Obviously she was a little excited to see Dryden. Hitomi wondered if she wanted to bounce like Naria while they waited in front of Folken's, but she had better control than that. She was steady.

Hitomi scanned the room looking for Dilandau when they were shown to their table, but she didn't see him anywhere. When they sat down, she leaned over to Naria and asked her when he said he'd be there.

"Don't worry," she soothed. "He'll probably walk in here in two minutes. He doesn't like to wait at tables all by himself. Such a child, don't you think?"

The waiter came up and asked them what they would like to drink.

"Is Dryden here tonight?" Eriya asked, after they had given their orders.

"He is," the man answered cordially. "Actually, he'll be performing one of his poems in just a few moments."

"Excellent," Eriya said with obvious pleasure. "I love his poetry."

Just then, the low lights went even lower and a faint spotlight appeared at the front of the lounge. In the faint purple light there was a man sitting on a bar stool. His one boot was crooked between the legs of his seat and the other supported him on the floor. He had a small glass of liquor in his hand and a small microphone pinned to his immaculate shirt. He had loose dark hair that curled around his face and fell just past his shoulders like he was just waking up from a night of passion. On his face were circular glasses that rested on the tip of his nose and he wore the most melancholy expression on his swarthy features.

Hitomi stared.

She was supposed to kiss _this _man at the end of the night! Eriya had chosen a man with an aura of sexuality that everyone woman in the room must be aware of to be her partner in a stupid experiment? Hitomi was completely aghast. She would have been better off to French kiss a stranger on the street than allow this insanity to permeate.

As the waiter placed her drink in front of her, she nearly stood up and laid one on him, just so she wouldn't have to kiss that man-whore sitting nonchalantly on the stage. But he backed away too quickly and Dryden began to speak.

"This is called 'The Woman I Cannot Have'."

It was high class bar, but Hitomi was positive she heard some guy snort at the next table.

Dryden appeared not to notice and continued, "It's also entitled, 'The Burning Rose'." Then he began reciting the poem:

* * *

_The fairytale of my love began with you_

_With that single rose spell of forever love_

_With charms and keys of enchantment_

_Like a white witch, you trapped me_

* * *

_Dangled _

_Tangled_

_Strangled_

* * *

_And when you fall, you tumbled like a child in hay_

_And my heart falls when you keep me at bay_

_And my soul fills with lifeblood when I hear you say,_

"_Only when the rose burns"_

* * *

_The fairytale of my love grew for you_

_With arms and lips I sought to prove_

_With words and breaths of worship_

_Like a fallen angel, you reviled me_

* * *

_Rejected _

_Dejected _

_Ejected_

* * *

_And when you fall, you tumble like a child in hay_

_And my heart falls when you keep me at bay_

_And my soul fills with lifeblood when I hear you say,_

"_Only when the rose burns"_

* * *

_The fairytale of my love goes on for you_

_With aching body and broken arms_

_With apology and borrowed sympathy_

_Like the blue rose, you sent me along_

* * *

_Depressed _

_Repressed_

_Suppressed_

* * *

_And when you fall, you tumble like a child in hay_

_And my heart falls when you keep me at bay_

_And my soul fills with lifeblood when I forever say,_

"_This rose still burns … for you"_

* * *

After Dryden said the words, 'for you' he swigged his drink, climbed off his stool and stepped off the platform. Everyone clapped; though Hitomi got the feeling that some of them were not quite as genuine as others.

She thought his recitation really brilliant. The way his voice flowed and the way he acted truly mournful was overwhelming. She forgot all about the experiment and focussed on his acting, his energy, and charisma. This was what she'd come all the way to the city to experience. Professional performances like that couldn't be found in her home town. Eriya was right; she didn't want to miss this.

Dryden sauntered over to their table and took a seat between Naria and Eriya. "Good evening, My Beautifuls," he said as he lightly caressed and kissed each of them on the cheek.

"That was a slightly different performance than usual, wasn't it Dryden?" Eriya said provokingly. "Normally, you narrate one of your rakish sex stories, don't you?"

"Ah, well," he said, leaning towards her and carefully slipping his arm around her shoulders. "I could scarcely do that with you coming tonight. Whenever we meet, I'm always afraid it will be the last time. And now you're trying to pawn me off onto one of your friends. I feel like I have to go the extra mile to please you."

Eriya bit her lower lip and Hitomi couldn't decide if she was going to kiss him or kick him in the shin.

Dryden smiled roguishly and continued, "Besides, you haven't said what you thought of the poem. I composed it tonight, just for you – I expect an appraisal."

Eriya opened her mouth and let it hang like that for a few seconds while she looked at the ceiling – trying to figure out her response.

Dryden moved in to kiss her while her attention was diverted, but she put out one finger to stop him at the last second.

"You cast me in a truly unusual role, since it's not me that rejects you."

"What? You always reject me!"

"No, you continue to reinvent yourself into different versions of the same cheater. If you became as committed to me as you are to your poetry, then you'd stop refusing yourself access into my life," she said sternly.

"So, you'll never be mine?"

"If you say so," Eriya said deliberately.

"Yet you want me to fool around with your friend?"

Hitomi coloured uncomfortably. Yeah, sure, drag her into this.

"I never said I wanted you to fool around with her. I said I wanted you to kiss her. It's an experiment and I need a man for the job who isn't blown off his feet by one tiny kiss. We came all this way, so you won't let us down, will you?"

Dryden turned away from Eriya and glanced across the table at Hitomi.

She was beet-red and sweating like she'd just run five clicks. Why did he have to look at her so appraisingly? It was rude.

"All right," he said, getting up from his chair and coming around to Hitomi's side of the table. "Let's not do this in the lounge. If the waiters see me kissing a new girl for longer than a few seconds, they'll come out with a cake singing happy birthday just to draw attention to me. Let's go some place quiet."

Hitomi bit her two lips together and took his offered hand. She didn't want to do this one bit, but she wanted to find out the answer to the question Eriya had posed. Was she the messed up one or was it Van and Dilandau?

Dryden curled her hand around his arm and started heading towards the tiny stage and the back doors.

"What are you doing here?" he asked sombrely as soon as they were out of earshot from Naria and Eriya.

"I … uh …" she stammered.

His whole tone and demeanour changed as he continued speaking, "What kind of a joke is this? I know you've always been slightly distressed that you didn't have the same exciting stories the rest of us have, but this is too much. I'm sorry, but I don't feel enough pity for you to play along."

Hitomi was confused. "'Play along'? I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about. This wasn't even my idea … And why are you talking to me like you know me?"

He rolled his eyes and opened the door to lead her into the back corridors that led to the other spaces on the main level of the building. The hallway was lighted with flickering fluorescent lights, but Dryden still looked beautiful under them.

Letting go of her, he crossed his arms and said coldly, "A line like that isn't going to work on me."

"Listen," Hitomi said, feeling slightly crushed by his insolence. "I don't know how you know me. Have we met before?"

He took a deep breath and said, "I really have nothing against you, nor do I like the way you've been treated in the past. What happened to you was a catastrophe that I mourned. You know that, even if I never put it that way, right? But I can't put myself on the losing side of this foolishness. The very idea makes my stomach turn. Please don't pursue it."

He moved to leave, but Hitomi grabbed his arm and said forcefully, "Do you know me? Am I somehow connected with you? I don't remember anything before I was thirteen. Please tell me if you know something!"

Dryden's jaw tightened. "Don't try to pretend you're innocent. I saw that _thing_. I've seen him all over town. Each time, the violence I feel can't even be described, but I can't go after him – he outranks me. The frustration is appalling."

Who was Dryden talking about? Hitomi tried to slam the pieces together. The only _thing_ she could think of was Van, and the only _thing_ Van had mentioned who didn't want to meet him was that vampire. But Dryden couldn't be the vampire – his flesh wasn't crumbling …

"And you," Dryden went on. "Do you even realize how much blood would be spilt if I committed the abomination of laying one finger on you with evil intent? I won't play into your sick little game for some demented practical joke that you're twisted enough to find amusement in."

Hitomi tried to protest again that she had no idea what he was talking about.

"Enough," he said just before he jerked his arm free from Hitomi's grasp and opened the door that led back into the lounge. He held the door open for her and she had the courage and grace to step through it without crying.

"Let me explain things to the twins," he whispered as they crossed the room.

When they made it back to their table, Hitomi slid into her seat without comment. She felt irrevocably dismayed and downright exhausted. How long was this charade going to go on? How many more confusing twists would she encounter before the end? She was exhausted from the effort of keeping her head above water.

"How did the kiss go?" Eriya asked Dryden when he took her drink and had an unoffered sip.

"We didn't get that far. She fainted in my arms before the fateful moment and I almost had to carry her back here," he said cheerfully, like nothing unpleasant had just happened.

Hitomi knew Naria and Eriya were staring at her. They were waiting for her to comment, but she couldn't bear to look at them. She was so embarrassed and confused that she wanted to cry. She kept the tears away by folding her napkin and breathing steadily.

It felt like this horrible deadlock with the twins staring at her would last forever, but Dryden shifted the attention away from her by asking Naria about her love life. It was a hot topic, and soon the three of them were laughing and talking and Hitomi might as well have not been there.

It was then that her eyes wandered to the exit.

Dilandau was sitting at the bar. She couldn't have missed his shining hair anywhere. Hitomi fumbled in her purse to find money to pay for her untouched drink and after laying it on the table, got up and made her way over to the bar. The seat next to Dilandau was empty and she hopped up onto it.

Dilandau smiled when he saw her. "Hello," he said casually. "Having fun with the whore?"

"Not really," she admitted gravely. "I'm really glad you came."

"Do you want to go? I could take you back to your dorm or we could go to my hotel, or wherever you want."

"Yeah. Thanks. I really don't want to hang out here anymore."

"No problem. Just go tell them you're leaving with me."

Hitomi squinted at him. "I don't want to go back there. Couldn't you go tell them for me?"

Dilandau shook his head wearily and pulled out his cell phone.

"Are you seriously going to text them instead of simply walking across the room?" she gawked.

"Seriously," he affirmed. "I told you. Me and that guy don't mix. I'll text Naria. She'll at least pick up her phone when she's around that guy."

As Dilandau keyed in his text message, something finally occurred to Hitomi. Maybe the guy Dryden mentioned wasn't Van. Otherwise, why would Dilandau refuse to merely walk to the table to deliver a simple message? Van had said that he didn't think Dilandau was human … so what was he? And who was Dryden and why did Dilandau outrank him?

* * *

_Author's Notes: Thanks to everyone who reads and reviews. It's October now and I've been writing like a maniac. Still no beta reader, so there may be a few errors. There's still my poll up on my profile about Van's hotness, so please go vote if you haven't. There is also my forum that is worth visiting if you haven't come - Shivering Wings. We have good times there. Access it by going to my profile. Thanks again for everyone who reads and reviews. I love reviews lots. I've had two letter and three letter reviews that haven't disappointed me, so saying any little thing works. Thanks!_

* * *


	19. Siren's Song

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne, but you'd better believe this I made 90 of this up.

* * *

**Chapter 19**

**Siren's Song**

_Featuring 'Hear me Calling' by De/Vision_

Hitomi and Dilandau stepped onto the street. Above the city lights, Hitomi could see the full moon. That was right. It had been about a month since the Occult's Addict had gone moon-gazing at the campus observatory. Hitomi got an idea.

"Hey Dilandau, can we go back to the university? Do you think we could go to the observatory again and have a look at the moon?"

"No," Dilandau laughed, his tone slightly mocking. "It's probably all locked up and it's way too late to get permission to go tonight."

"Oh," Hitomi mumbled – disappointed.

"Besides, I'm worried about you. It's freezing and you're not properly dressed. What a thin jacket! My car is at a parkade a few blocks away. You'll be a popsicle if we don't hurry."

Hitomi held onto his arm tightly as they rushed down the street. The shoes she had borrowed from Eriya didn't exactly have the best grip and the sidewalks were icy.

"I should buy you a fur coat to keep you warm. You never dress properly," Dilandau reproved.

Their footsteps sounded lightly on the pavement and the streetlamp above them flickered. The wind curled around Hitomi's face and she put her bare hand to her cheek to warm it. It was quiet as they approached the entrance of an alley way, but in the ticking silence she heard a voice grate in the alley from behind a dumpster.

"Hello Pretty," it said.

Dilandau froze. Hitomi clutched at his arm and tried to make him move past, but he wouldn't go along with her. He craned his head to see who had spoken to them.

"Let's go. I'm really cold," Hitomi urged.

"No, I want to see who that was," Dilandau said as he pried her fingers from his arm. "Just wait here, while I go have a look."

Hitomi crossed her arms and tried not to think about the way her frozen earrings kept swinging against her naked neck. She should have brought a scarf.

Dilandau walked back to the alley and peered inside. "Huh …" he said. "I thought someone was there."

"So there's no one there. Can we just go?"

"One sec," he said as he stepped into the darkness of the alley.

Hitomi took a deep breath for patience. What was he doing? Besides it being late, there was also no one else walking on this particular street. Everywhere she looked there were nothing but closed banks and black windowed corporate offices. The only bar on the street had probably been Hugo's. Seconds were passing and Dilandau still hadn't come back. Hitomi started tapping her toe. In two shakes, she was going to whip out her cell phone and call for a taxi.

Suddenly, long arms wound around her from behind and pulled her backwards. She almost slipped, but the person grabbing her raised her feet off the ground. One of their hands gripped her wrists and their other hand was over her mouth. When she breathed in her nose, her nostrils were filled with the most putrid scent she had ever experienced. That same grating voice from before whispered, "Hello Pretty," again into her ear.

Then the thing began to do the most impossible thing. It began to run, while holding her. Hitomi struggled, but that smell was too much for head and she was weak from giving blood that day. She just didn't have the same fight in her she normally had.

Before she knew it, she was thrown inside a garbage bin. Her head was struck painfully against the side of the crate as she slid off a fluffy black trash bag onto the empty bottom of the container.

"Ouch!" she screamed.

"Shut up!" the thing rasped as it jumped in on top of her. Once again, its hand clamped over her mouth to keep her from calling out.

Shadow covered its face, so she couldn't see it clearly. She could only see the moon hanging over its shoulder. She focussed on the white shining surface because she couldn't move and that disgusting smell was still assaulting her senses. Even her eyes were watering.

"I know you. You're the girl with that siren's scent all over you," the thing said as it bent down and sniffed Hitomi's throat. "You've had your blood drained recently. But, your lover was so good to you – no bite marks." The thing laughed softly as it licked the side of neck. "And he left enough for me."

Hitomi heard its lips smack as it enjoyed the moment before it crunched its teeth into her skin. Hitomi screamed through her nose, like a humming, trying to make any noise she could before the thing bit.

"Hitomi!" she heard Dilandau shout.

She wasn't sure if he heard her, so she tried screaming again, but the thing muffled her voice by plugging her nose.

"Hitomi!" Dilandau tried again. He seemed to be standing right beside the garbage bin. Hitomi suffered a tortured second where she agonized whether or not he was going to notice her.

BANG!

The metal container shuddered. Dilandau must have kicked it. The thing's fingers loosened enough for Hitomi to get breath and hum her muffled hum again.

Dilandau hefted himself up on the lip of the dumpster to have a look inside and as he did so, his head covered the moon she had been staring at. The moon lit up his white-blond hair, making it look like he had a halo, and in the shadow of his face shone two sparkling red eyes.

The thing turned and saw him. "Bloody Hell," it whispered. Then it turned to Hitomi and shook her. "What the Hell is wrong with you, Woman? You hang out with sirens during the day and then at night, you date HIM? Are you insane?"

Dilandau grabbed the thing by its dirty collar and dragged it out of the bin, with two hands and a heavy struggle.

"Let go!" the thing hollered as it disappeared over the side.

Once it was out, Hitomi got to her feet.

"Stay in there," Dilandau instructed darkly, as he headed into the deepest part of the alley with the thing in tow.

"I wasn't going to kill her," the thing whined as Dilandau forced it along.

"Oh?" Dilandau asked, sounding doubtful, but in complete control.

"No way. She just looked so delicious in that dress and wearing those shoes. You're with her, so you must understand the attraction."

"You're saying the wrong thing."

"Uh … I mean … I didn't know who you were. I would never have touched a woman who was with you – never."

"Still wrong."

"I screwed up!" the thing finally screamed.

"'Fucked up' would be better. My guess is that you still have no idea who you're dealing with and who exactly you have pissed off. If you weren't such a pathetic little gimp, you'd realize that an apology isn't going to do anything. How dare you put your filthy fingers on her! Come here, you little bastard," Dilandau said as he jolted the thing around the corner.

"I didn't _know_!" Hitomi heard the thing yelp desperately just before its air was cut off.

There were screams and half-curses from around the corner, and Hitomi was only left to assume that Dilandau was beating the living daylights out of the thing. It was a vampire. Hitomi was certain now. It was exactly what Van described – loathsome. Even still, she wasn't positive if it was a man or a woman. Its voice was neither high nor low and Hitomi had never gotten a proper look at its face.

She was so relieved Dilandau had come to her rescue that she hadn't noticed exactly how badly she had hurt her head. Now that the danger was gone, she gingerly fingered under her hair where a bump was growing. She was also missing a shoe. She guessed she lost it somewhere in the vampire's mad dash. She stood with one foot on tip-toe in the dumpster waiting for Dilandau to return. Shivering, she wished he was finished.

When he finally came back, he ran lightly down the alley with an air of weightlessness that seemed entirely inappropriate considering the circumstances. His hair reflected the moonlight like a mirror and his eyes still appeared as two pin-pricks of red in the vague light and dark shadow of the alley. His coat was open and his chest bare … huh? Hitomi thought back to Hugo's. He had been wearing a shirt then and his coat had been resting on the bar stool on the other side of him. Why was he shirtless now?

"Hitomi," he called, with genuine concern. "Are you okay? That monster didn't hurt you, did he?"

"So, it was a man," Hitomi said, trying to watch her disorientation. Things were getting stranger and her head was throbbing. She was probably imagining that his white shirt was his white skin. "Why is your coat open, Dil?" she asked weakly.

He shook his head wearily and smiled broadly. Looking down at his chest, he said, "I needed my shirt for something. Don't fret it. Here, let me help you out."

Dilandau put his arms around her and helped her out of the bin.

"Do you your coat up, you're freezing," she chattered.

"Nah, I feel fine. Let's go find your shoe."

"Yeah … especially since … it's Eriya's shoe."

Dilandau let her walk a few steps and then he swept her up in his arms. "I can't let you walk like that, now can I. You'll get frostbite on your foot."

They walked like that for a few steps before Hitomi said, "That was a vampire, wasn't it?"

"Van told you about real vampires, didn't he? That's why you changed your mind about him being one, right?"

"Yeah," she agreed quietly.

"Did he tell you what I am?" he asked calmly, his voice sounding lower than usual.

"No. I don't think he knows."

"I'm sure he does."

After several seconds, Hitomi said, "Your eyes glow red, Dil. Because of the deal you made with 'that guy'? What did it do to you? Are you human, like me?"

"Don't worry about it," he said, kissing the side of her head. "I'm human."

"Then why are your eyes red? It's unnatural."

Dilandau didn't answer her, but instead, slid her out of his arms and set her one foot on the ground beside her fallen shoe. He let her keep her balance by holding onto his shoulder while he bent down and helped her slide her foot into the delicate high heel.

"Let's go back to your place," he said evenly.

"What about you? Don't you need a shirt? I mean, shouldn't we go to your hotel?"

"I don't need a shirt. I don't need anything … except you," he said gently as he took her hand and led her back down the street towards his car. His coat flapped open as the wind swirled around his abdomen and snowflakes fell against his bare flesh. It would have been beautiful, if it hadn't been disturbing. Not only that, but this moment he reminded her of something … of someone.

* * *

As they drove, Hitomi turned the heat up full blast. She put her ice-cold fingers over the heater and pretended it was all for her. He didn't seem to notice when she turned the vents to blow onto him. Actually, he seemed to be in a remarkably good mood. He didn't notice the cold.

"I've never seen you like this before," Hitomi said, trying to sound dreamy – like she liked him, like she liked this moment.

"Well, you're going to think I'm a sadist, but killing that vamp was a really good time," he said, his white teeth flashing slightly in the dash lights.

Hitomi nearly choked. She had thought that he merely beat it up. She had no idea that he'd murdered it. "How … could you … do that?" she asked brokenly.

"Easily," he laughed. "You shouldn't feel sorry for a disgusting creature like that. No matter what he said, he was going to kill you. I mean, I knew he was lurking around, but I never imagined he would be so stupid as to come after _you_. Besides, the death of a cursed creature like that is so cleansing. I've done the world a favour."

Hitomi swallowed her fear and asked the next question that was on her mind. "How did you do it?"

"Vamps are practically falling apart as it is. It's not hard for a mere human like me to take one out. I took off my coat. He thought I was giving him the chance to bite me when I let him go. I didn't even get my shirt sleeves rolled up before it charged me. So, I slammed the heel of my hand through its ribs and tore out its heart. Well, it's not quite that simple, but you know – the less gory version for you."

"Thanks," she said, holding her stomach. "Then why aren't you covered in blood?"

"It's not like it sprayed. Their blood doesn't pulse through their body like ours – it's old blood – brown and half mucus. I took off my shirt and cleaned up afterwards. Then I wrapped its heart up in it and crammed the whole package through the storm drains. I can still feel the slime of his blood in the cracks of my hands. I'm gonna have to clean off my steering wheel and have my coat dry cleaned and probably fifteen other things because of what I've done tonight, but what the Hell? I can't forget the high."

Hitomi forced herself to calm down. Van said that he would have killed the vampire if he'd encountered him, and Van made it sound like he would have done something more disgusting … like eat it.

"You never thought Van was a vampire, did you?" she asked.

Dilandau hesitated for a moment before he answered. A little of the rush had come out of his voice. "No, not really."

"Well, then why were you investigating him?" she asked, just as Dilandau pulled into the visitor parking outside her dormitory.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Doesn't really matter now."

He got out of the car and came around to open Hitomi's door for her. She got to it before he did and stood outside the car, taking an inventory of her borrowed dress in the blaring white lights of the parking lot. It needed cleaning, too.

* * *

Dilandau went to the community bathroom to wash the remnant of blood that was smeared up to his elbow. When Hitomi saw the vampire's blood, she knew he had nothing to fear, walking around in public with his coat off and splatters of brown up his one arm. It looked like mud or paint, and the smell was rancid – not like copper.

When Hitomi stepped into her room, she was alone, if only for the moment. She shook off Eriya's heels and bent to pick one up. Her head swam, and she realized she'd have to check the damage the next day, because today, she was going to be lucky to get herself out of her dress without Dilandau's help. But she was determined to do it before he got back from the bathroom. She put her fingers to the zipper. She got it down as far as her shoulder blades before it was out of her reach. Taking a deep breath, she reasoned that she should just wait for Dilandau to get back. He would take perfect care of her. Hadn't he proved it? Hitomi's face twisted in discomfort that had nothing to do with her head. Why couldn't she just give herself to Dilandau? But there was something inside her that revolted at the concept. She couldn't do it. She squirmed and bent herself until she got the zipper down. Relieved, she tossed the dress aside. Next, she removed her panty hose that was now hopelessly run up one leg and threw it into the waste basket.

Now she needed sweats. She needed warm, fuzzy, unsexy sweats - for the love of all that was holy. In her drawer, there were still a few items from before her purge and she was glad of it. She put on neon blue track pants, a plain grey long-sleeved shirt, a short-sleeved T-shirt over top that had a gigantic blue star in sequins across the chest and green and blue striped slippers – the kind with rubber soles.

Then she hopped into bed, just before she had to rush to the door to let Dilandau in. He was holding his coat in hand and so, of course, he was still half-naked.

"Hi," he said pleasantly, as he entered the room and kicked the door shut behind him. "I think I came up with a plan for getting rid of your visions when we kiss," he said as he bolted the door.

Hitomi lay down on her bed and pulled the covers over herself. "What?"

"I think we should have sex," he said, pulling a condom out of his pants' pocket.

Hitomi swallowed her shock and motioned for him to come to the bed. "Give me your hand," she ordered. He did as he was told and she put his fingers to the swelling bump on the back of her head. "I'm not really in the mood, but beside that, I don't want to. I've never had … you know … sex before and I want it to be really special."

"I just saved you from a vampire. What could make it more special than that?" he reasoned, unreasonably.

"Well, I could be healthy and unhurt," she offered.

"I could get you some Tylenol 3's. No big deal--"

"No," Hitomi said interrupting him. "I have only known you for a month. Don't be so impatient."

"I'm not impatient," he denied.

"Then, don't push this. I need to learn so much more about you before the end of this …" Hitomi took a sudden leap she hadn't planned to take and said the truth, "And I'm deeply sorry, but I need to sort out my feelings for Van."

Dilandau's face went from handsome with a dash of reckless to furious and nothing but reckless in less than a second. "I thought that was over."

"You're great, Dil. Everything you have done and said has been pretty much perfect since that night I brought you home. It's true – you're wonderful. You saved me from the vampire and having to spend an odious evening with Dryden and the twins. You're hot and you look amazing with your shirt off. There's something about you that's fascinating and mysterious – I can hardly take my eyes off you. So, there's not a thing wrong with you – you're perfect. I'm just not sure that we're right for each other. And I don't want to hurt you."

"Are you saying you want to break up?" he asked through clenched teeth.

"No. What I'm saying is that, I'm fragile – you knew I was fragile – and I want to go very very very very slowly. I'm not saying I'll run back to Van or anything stupid like that. He doesn't even want me. So, there's nothing to worry about … but slow, okay?"

Hitomi put her arms around him and brought him into an embrace. She wanted to reassure him and let him know that he could still have her heart, but he had to wait until she was comfortable. His arms came around her, too, and they held each other. His skin was chilled and so she grabbed one of her blankets and pulled it over his shoulders. When she leaned forward to see if the blanket covered his whole back, she saw something dark and metal sticking out of the back of his pants.

"What's that?" she asked, reaching for it.

"Nothing!" Dilandau refuted and jumped to his feet.

"No really," Hitomi said, getting out of bed and chasing him. "It looked like you had a gun in your pants."

"It's my wallet," he said seriously.

Hitomi gawked. "You carry your wallet in the waistband of your briefs? Yuh-huh. Besides, I saw the handle. Why do you have a gun? That's really freaky. Why would you bring a gun with you to my dorm room? During a date? At the same time you're asking me for sex? Oh … Dil …" she moaned, her brain turning in circles she had never imagined her brain could turn in. "Were you going to rape me?" she whispered; her hand on her chest.

"No!" Dilandau said, pulling the gun from his pants and flipping it open to show the empty chambers to her. "It's not loaded or anything. I just have it in case of an emergency."

"What kind of 'emergency'?" she wailed. "Get out!"

"Wait! You don't understand."

"Get out NOW! I'll call security," she said, picking up her phone.

He snatched it out of her hand. "I can't go until you listen to me. I have it for a reason, but it's not that bad of a reason. This is just a game."

"Give me BACK my PHONE!" she shouted, reaching for it.

"It's just a game we play. You run and I try to catch you."

"It's a game? What the bloody Hell are you talking about? I want you gone. Get OUT!"

Dilandau didn't respond, instead he moved from his tight position and turned to peer out the window. Hitomi stopped, too. She heard music. Not ordinary music. She heard something special, like angels singing. She and Dilandau chased to the window and flung it open together.

Standing on the front, snow covered lawn, was Van. He was wearing a black trench coat and a dark red scarf. There he was … singing in public. Other dormitory windows were sliding open, but no matter how much noise there was from shocked students, Van's voice floated above them.

_I believe in your heart_

_Can you believe in me?  
Would you try me out one day,_

_When our souls are free?  
I can taste your sweetness _

_I am out of control  
Leave my mind if you don't stay _

_You decompose my soul _

Hitomi turned without saying a word and she dashed out of the room and down the hall to the staircase. She jumped down the steps – two and three at a time. It must have been a moment before Dilandau realized what was happening, because Hitomi had already made it down two flights before she heard him barrelling after her at the top of the stairs.

"Don't go out there," he yelled down to her.

_  
Can't you hear me calling?_

_Longing for a calm?  
Can't you see I'm falling?_

_Soon I'll come to harm  
Can't you feel my yearning?_

_For your __charity__  
Can't you see I'm burning?_

_Till our souls are free_

Hitomi didn't stop. If she stopped to think, she'd lose. The only thing she needed to know what that Van was there. He had come and there was no way he was singing to anyone but her. She had to get to him. She had to get away from Dilandau and his gun. Security might not be helpful, the police would take too long, but Van … she could trust him completely. She had been wrong all along – Van was the one who she was safe with – not Dilandau. Van would protect her.

She didn't wait to catch her breath and pushed herself through the double doors into the lobby.

_  
Waiting for an answer _

_I'm waiting for a sign  
I do not understand these feelings_

_Hope you're feeling fine  
Can't you hear me calling?_

_Longing for a calm  
Can't you see I'm falling?_

_Soon I'll come to harm  
Can't you feel my yearning?_

_For your __charity__  
Can't you see I'm burning?_

_Till our souls are free_

Out the front doors and into the snow, she ran. Dilandau was right behind her and caught her elbow at the exact same moment that the first snowflake fell on her flushed cheek.

"Van!" she hollered.

Van spotted her and took off towards them.

Dilandau pulled out his gun and put it to Hitomi's temple. He covered her mouth with his free hand and yelled, "Stay away from us!"

Van's obeyed and stopped dead in his tracks.

Hitomi knew the gun wasn't loaded, so she struggled hard. She bit Dilandau's fingers and cried, "It's not loaded. Help me!"

Van needed no further encouragement and rushed to them. Grabbing Dilandau's hand that held Hitomi, he twisted it painfully and wretched it away from her. Free, Hitomi broke from the two of them and stood a safe distance behind Van.

"Still human, eh?" Van said coldly as Dilandau's serious expression changed to one of someone suffering an unfamiliar sting.

"Still trying to be me?" he retorted mockingly.

"We'll see about that," Van said bitingly, winding up and striking him across the cheek.

Dilandau fell in the snow.

Van turned on his heel and grabbed Hitomi's hand.

* * *

As Van approached Hitomi, she looked like a frightened Jack-rabbit, but he didn't care anymore what she looked like. It didn't matter to him. This afternoon had been the final straw. He was past caring if he broke the rules or not. That was why he came to sing at her dormitory. It was strictly against the rules and already there were swarms of girls spilling down the fire escapes and out the front door. From the state of Dilandau's clothes, it looked like he had made it right on time, too.

He took her hand in his and asked gently, "Did he do anything to you?"

"No," Hitomi said, looking over his shoulder to see Dilandau turn over in the snow.

Van sighed in relief, but there was no time for more than that. Dilandau was recovering fast and Van didn't want to fight him again. Fighting like this was meaningless, but he'd have to do it again if he didn't get a move on. Folken's car was parked two steps behind Hitomi. He'd have to do it now.

Van put both his hands on either side of Hitomi's face and looked into her green eyes. They were shining like two emerald fireflies floating in the night. She was close to remembering everything – he could feel it. She was becoming more like Dilandau every second and as ironic as it was – Van had to make her completely like him.

"The mask has to come off. Forgive me," he moaned, right before he sunk his teeth into the side of her throat.

* * *

Hitomi's eyes opened like she had just been jolted with electricity. Thoughts were slamming through her head in spasms. What was Van doing? Hadn't he just drunk her blood that afternoon? It hurt. It hurt. It HURT. IT HURT! She wanted to scream, but her voice was jammed. But in her ears, the scream rang anyway. Someone was screaming for her. Who was it? And why was this happening to her? Her eyes watered badly and tears spilt over her cheeks in rivers.

"Van," she gurgled, the sound barely making its way through her lips.

He crunched down harder and she felt her veins pulse to the point of breaking.

Her heartbeat seemed to slow and she wondered for a second if this was how she would die – at the lust of a siren. But then it felt like her heart responded to his unspoken passion. It quickened, gaining pace and energy.

And then, just like every time that Van kissed her, she separated from herself and stumbled away. The world wasn't turning black, as it had so many other times, but turning blinding white. She was going with it – wherever it went. She would escape this moment and discover what her vision held in store for her.

* * *

Hitomi fell limp in Van's arms. He held her briefly as he shuffled her towards the car and sat her gently in the back seat. He stood up and as his head came above the car…

BANG!

A piece of Van's hair went flying.

Dilandau had shot at him, but luckily he had dodged it.

Van didn't even miss a beat as he got into the driver's side of the car. He didn't look to see the expression on Dilandau's face, or give him a chance to re-aim. He just got in the car and started the engine.

As he rolled out of the parking lot he saw something. From his side mirror, he saw Dilandau make for his own car. In seconds, this was going to be a strenuous car chase.

Moving the stick into third gear, he looked in the rear view mirror and saw Hitomi's limp body. "Mental note: I can dodge bullets," he laughed, before he said viciously, "Now, let's see if we can lose that bastard husband of yours."

* * *

_Author's Notes: Okay! Thanks so much everyone for reading last time. I got some really great comments. No beta reader, so yeah, there is probably the occasional error, but I tried really hard to get them all. This is a pretty intense chapter. My forum 'Shivering Wings' is up and available through my profile. There's also still my poll about Van on my profile, so people can still vote. Thank you everyone for sticking with me and reviewing, being my fans, supporting me and everything - you've been awesome._

* * *


	20. Virgo

_Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne and I don't intend to stay 100 true to the Greek myths I borrow, but from what I've read - for the most part - this is pretty accurate. What I've added, I believe, adds so much to the heart of this tale that I am proud to release this chapter. This is an EXCELLENT chapter. Right now, it's the crown of my work - please enjoy it._

**Chapter 20**

**Virgo**

When she opened her eyes, she was laying face-down on her settee. The afternoon sun had shifted so that she was no longer resting in a shadow but instead in the glaring sunlight. Moving herself into a sitting position, she stretched her arms over her head and took the deep breath of the girl who always slept like an angel. Her eyes took in the landscape surrounding her – so every day, yet so magnificent.

She sat in her very own palace – a detachment of the main building, but hers nonetheless. It was a seven storey tower. At this moment she was on the sixth floor. It had no walls, but the ceiling above was supported by six stone pillars and a spiral staircase led to the top. The last floor was like the top of an ornament wedding cake and it was where she grew her ivy. It exploded like a snapshot of a green firework display and grew down to the sixth level and below, but it always grew the best at the top. There were birdbaths on both of the top floors where tiny multicoloured birds could always be heard singing and chirping for her amusement.

The first floor was her reception room where she met with her darling brothers and sisters and her mother if she happened to stop by, which was often. The second floor was her official bathing chamber and housed an enormous bathtub fit only for the finest flesh – which of course meant hers. The third floor was her library where she kept not only her favourite books by men, but also her most prized possessions. The fourth and the fifth floors were her bedrooms. The fourth floor was where she was expected to entertain her lovers, if she ever got any. Thus far, she had never used it. As things stood now she didn't know if she would ever use it. She wasn't interested in men or letting them use her body. The other bedroom was hers and where she always slept, except of course, when she was resting on the sixth floor.

Just now, her body felt hot and as she stared out at the great view that was Olympus. There was a hunt of some kind on the mountains. Something that should not be there had somehow squirreled onto holy ground, so everyone rushed to the chase – except her. She was not interested in killing. At this moment all she wanted was a dip in a clear pool. Her bathtub would have sufficed, but the long pool that lay between her tower and the great temple of Zeus was completely empty. No one bathed.

Her eyebrows perked up as she considered having the pool entirely to herself. The prospect pleased her, so she rose and stepped off the edge of the sixth floor as a human might jump the last steps of a staircase. She landed lightly on the grass that ran along the edge of her home and skipped across the footbridge to the pool.

Dressed in casual silks, she slipped into the water fully dressed. It wasn't as though modesty was a particular virtue of any of her relatives, so her vulnerable state didn't even occur to her. Instead, she thought of the perfectly cool water and the way her skirts and top billowed around her body like mermaid's ribbons. She lay back in the water and watched the white clouds turn golden in the afternoon sun.

She believed she was alone. She believed it did not matter should anyone walk by. This was her home, where she was free to be naked or clothed, where she was free to grow up as quickly or as slowly as she wished. She believed that her mother and father would protect her if anything should seek to harm her, but what could harm her? She was a goddess.

But she did not think about these things. She never thought about them. They were there, but they were as obvious as the ground beneath her feet and she questioned them less.

In this moment of happy repose, a voice sounded from behind one of the stone pillars. There weren't many shadows here large enough to house a man, but this man had apparently found one. "You have a beautiful body," he said languidly. His voice was low and something about it clicked like he moved his tongue too much or smacked his lips when he spoke.

The girl stood and the water fell away from her form. She knew her clothes offered little modesty when they were soaking wet and clinging, so she covered her chest with her arms. No one she knew on the mountain would speak to her like that. Who?

He stood, leaning against the pillar. He was dressed in hunting apparel like he was someone important who came for the hunt. He wore a black and silver breastplate and guards on his forearms and shins. But his clothes were ordinary, for her. It was his face and his aura that startled her. His hair was white and weaved into a single braid that fell down his chest, ending with his ribs. His eyes were scarlet and pierced like arrows as he appraised her body to the smallest detail.

"I don't know you," she said stiffly.

"I don't know you either," he said, as he stripped his sword and placed it calmly on the brim of the pool.

As a goddess, she knew no fear. She was merely curious as he approached her, entering the water without taking off one piece of armour.

He stood in front of her, travelling the depths of her eyes with his, and reaching a conclusion she could only guess at. "Is this how you greet visitors to Mount Olympus? You should do something to let me know you wish me no harm."

She turned out her right hand, all the while keeping her left arm to her bosom, so as to keep her breasts a bit of a secret. She didn't understand what he said about her harming him. Even without a formal introduction, he was clearly a god, so she didn't know what he meant. In her mind, it was impossible for them to hurt each other.

He took her hand gently in his and bent to kiss it. At least, that was what she expected him to do. Instead, he licked her skin from knuckles to wrist.

She jerked her hand back. "You have no right to touch me like that," she said fiercely as she took a step back in the water.

"Of course I do," he said, looking through her, like she was something trivial that amused him temporarily. "I'm not your brother, so I can touch you any way I please. Is that your home?" he asked, pointing his chin towards her tower.

"Yes," she said, still puzzled.

"Take me there. I'd like to see where you live. If I like your place, maybe I'll take you to see mine."

She had never been any place other than this land, these hills, or these buildings. She had no idea where he was talking about. There was no other place, except Gaia, and though she had never been there, she had seen visions of it. She did not want to go there. It was dull and ugly with few places of beauty.

"No," she said serenely.

He looked at her blankly, like he was intrigued by her answer rather than defeated. "Are you what I think you are? I've never seen anything like you before. How clean," he said stepping towards her again and brushing the side of her cheek with the back of his fingers. "I want you."

"I want to dry off," she said simply as she stepped away from him and pointed herself towards her tower.

"Don't leave," he said, grabbing her clothes instead of her body.

He held tightly, and whipped her back towards him, but she lost her balance and fell into the water. There was a tear – her neckline. A piece of coral coloured silk hung from his unmoving fingers as she recovered herself enough to hold her head above the water.

"Hades! What are you doing with her?" someone shouted from the top of the North stairs.

The young goddess smiled in thankfulness. It was Apollo, her half brother. His thick curling hair surrounded his perfect brown face, but his normally friendly brown eyes narrowed angrily. He rushed down the steps and removed his vermillion cloak. He splashed into the water unconcernedly, approaching the two figures. As he handed his cloak to his sister, he gave her a small smile, saying quietly, "You are more precious than most of us. Cover yourself."

She took it and did as he commanded.

"Go," he said, and again she did as she was told. She trusted Apollo implicitly possibly because she saw more of him than her father, or possibly because he cared more for her than her father.

She did as she was told and went back to her tower without swivelling round to see what transpired between Apollo and Hades. She had never heard that name before – Hades. It was completely new to her. So, she did not know if they argued or if they spoke pleasantly. She went into her home and prepared herself for her mother's evening visit.

Once she was dry, she pinned up her shining red-orange curls with emerald clips, and covered her body in soft green satin. She opened the door to her palace and stepped onto the small terrace to wait for her mother's arrival. When she opened the door, the sun had set and the moonlight shone down on the pool she had swum in that afternoon. There in the sparkle of reflection stood the god she had met – Hades. He stared at her door and her until her mother arrived. She did not feel uncomfortable as she waited, but rather suspicious that there was more to life here than she understood. Her ignorance made her uncomfortable rather than his perpetual sexual stare.

"Who is he?" she asked her mother when they had closed the door.

"Hades," she said grimly, as she sat down. "The monster that entered our kingdom was thought to be from his realm, but after the thing was caught, it was clear that this was not so. He is innocent as always. Perfect gods never lapse."

"Is he a good god then?"

"He has been with Zeus since the beginning. Long ago, when Zeus defeated the titans, Hades was with him, as well as Poseidon. Zeus rules the Heavens, Poseidon the Sea, and Hades the Underworld. He is perfect in his position – flawless beyond flawless. But there is something unnerving about him, isn't there? Did you feel it? A coldness that other gods don't have?"

"No. Though he did not seem as warm as Apollo."

"No one is as warm as Apollo," she laughed in a motherly tone. "You compare the sun god to the god of the Underworld?"

"No one is as bright as Apollo?"

"No one," she said negatively. "It's funny you should mention him. Tonight he asked Zeus if he could have you for his wife."

"What did he say?"

"He deferred to me and I refused for you. He is fine enough in his place, but I cannot give him my baby daughter. You are too young to be his wife and he is too dark to be your husband. You would not be happy in the Underworld. There is no light, and no life. His home is filled with death and the sorrow of endings and partings. Your heart would break if you were forced to live there. I cannot send you to a place that would hurt you so. You need sunlight and a full life of love and passion, and I fear you would find none of those things with him. I could not consent. Never fear though, Hades does not have a temper even if he does live on the very edges of Hell. I'm sure he won't seek vengeance and he'll soon school himself to forget about you."

"Do you really think so?" she asked cautiously.

"Of course. Demeter has decreed it," her mother said.

She nodded because she felt she was expected to show some gratitude, but she did not understand what she ought to be grateful for. From what she'd seen she did not know whether this god Hades would make a good husband for her or not. She did not feel one way or the other about him.

--

Days later, she sat on the sixth floor of her tower with two servants, two nymphs called Raidne and Teles. She lay on the settee while they combed and braided tiny portions of her hair.

Raidne was like the spirit of a birch tree as her hair fell in blonde and black tresses. Her eyes were the colour of her skin. Teles was like her twin. She had brown and blonde hair, but her eyes were ebony black. The two of them were patient and willing servants.

"What are you going to do today, Lady Persephone?" Raidne asked her mistress in soft tones.

Persephone pointed to a hill in the distance. "I want to go there to pick flowers. My tower has been bare of blossoms for days now because of all the hunting the gods have been doing in the mountains. They've let up now, so we should go."

"Aren't you afraid of running into some horrible beast?" Teles asked shyly wrapping herself in her arms and shivering slightly.

"No," she answered. "If we did come across something frightening, wouldn't the two of you help me escape?"

"Of course," Raidne said boldly. "There's nothing to worry you if we come along. You'll be perfectly safe. Besides," she continued, picking a comb through Persephone's hair, "nothing could ever hurt you. You're a goddess."

"Of course," she echoed blandly.

"Of course," Teles said cheerfully, adding to it, so that the three of them giggled playfully at their own joke.

Persephone rose and went down to the fifth floor to find clothes for the day. Teles and Raidne showed her different silks while she yawned and daydreamed - looking out the window. She wondered if she would see Apollo that day. He was usually away, but whenever he came home he had the most wonderful stories to share about his adventures. They said he was the most beautiful god in Olympus, but … she was beginning to guess that beauty was not everything to the gods and goddesses here. Her father Zeus was worshipped by his children and wives and some of the population of Gaia. She knew Apollo was worshipped as well, but this god Hades … seemed different … like his power came from a different source than her father's, than her brothers', and from what her mother said, she gathered he was strong.

Wondering idly as she was, she wondered if she would see him again. He had gone away and she had not seen him since she saw him staring at her while standing in the pool. Where had he fled to? And had he really given up on her?

Persephone chose a white silk gown and white slippers that laced up her shins. The dress fastened over one shoulder while the other shoulder remained bare. She used a pair of sapphire clips to hold the fabric in place; one on the shoulder and one on her back to give the dress some shape by pulling the silk tight around her waist. Then the nymphs finished her hair and they left the tower together.

On the hillside, the three of them picked great handfuls of blossoms and laughed happily at the brightness of the day, at the fun of being free and the melody of birds that rang from the trees.

"If you had a husband, Lady, what kind would you like?" Raidne asked Persephone as she handed the goddess a peach.

Persephone sat on the soft blades of grass and spun the peach around in her hand until it slipped from her fingers and rolled away. "Well," she said, thinking of these things for the first time. "I realize my choices are few. There aren't many gods who could be my husband, since so many of them are my brothers."

"Like Apollo?"

"Indeed. I may need a new one to be born for me to have a proper husband and lord. I don't really care for human men, but one might do for a time if I should get lonely. If that were the case, then the choices are almost endless." She paused to consider. "I'd like dark hair – almost black. And brown eyes – soft like a gentle animal's. Beyond that, I really don't know what I want. Perhaps I'd like kindness, because I don't like anger."

"You'll learn more about men as you live," said the dark-haired nymph. "None of them are the same … and all of them are a little bit intimidating."

Persephone picked a large blue flower with a head so large she needed two hands to hold it properly. "I don't know much. It feels like I've lived in this quiet world forever and the sun … how I adore the sun! I feel like it doesn't matter if I have lovers or husbands or children or anything as long as I have that sun shining down on me. But, there is no place where it doesn't shine, is there?"

She breathed blissfully and lay down on her back. The earth beneath her felt perfect. She closed her eyes and focussed on it, but then she started to feel something strange in the ground – a rumble. It started out as little more than a quiver, but soon the dirt was jolting in heavy thrusts. Persephone sat up and tried to rise to her feet, but she was jerked down on her knees.

"What's going on?" she shrieked, completely unprepared for anything so unexpected. Separate from the quaking hillside, her whole body trembled in fear.

The nymphs didn't answer her but clung to trees and screamed louder than she did.

Then the grass before her began to separate and the earth ripped open in red volcanic spray. The flaming liquid rolled down the hill as the hole grew and gaped. She was going to fall in if she didn't move. Paralyzed by horror, she could hardly escape, but she forced herself backwards. Then, just as suddenly, the earth stopped shaking and Persephone put a hand to her breast.

It was over.

Seconds passed and the hole remained large and wet, like a bloody wound in a man's chest. The lava seemed to be drying and cooling. The nymphs ran towards her and threw their arms around Persephone as though she was supposed to comfort them when they were her servants. She put one arm over each of their shoulders to show that she realized they were there, but said nothing. She did not know how to respond. They said they would help her run away if something terrifying happened, but instead, they had protected themselves without worry for her.

Below them, the ground began to rumble again, but the sensation was not like an earthquake and instead felt like the pounding of horse's hooves. Through the chasm before them erupted two dark horses and they pulled a black chariot behind them. There, through wind and sweat and shattered rock stood Hades. His face was the perfect picture of someone who had utterly refused to be denied. There was soot streaked across his cheeks and arms. His hair was badly mussed and the cords that bound it had slackened their tension. He was dusted with ash, but his eyes seemed to see nothing except Persephone.

What had he gone through to break through to Olympus this way? Persephone had never seen a warrior-god return from the battlefield. _Was it like this_, she marvelled as she clung to Raidne and Teles.

His eyes were a curious mixture of heartlessness and determination as he stared at her. "Come with me," he commanded, proffering his black and white hand.

"No," she whispered, a tremble rocking her body.

His eyes did not move from his goal as he curled the reins around the corner of the chariot, and stepped down. Reaching into the chariot, he produced a long riding whip and approached the three women.

"Nymphs, get away from her now," he said chillingly.

There was no need for further threatening. Hades, merely standing there with a whip was enough to send the two fleeing the scene like leaves blown in an autumn wind.

Persephone calmed her nerves and sat still. "What are you doing?" she asked. "My mother told me that she declined your request."

"I don't care what your mother said. Everything on her tongue tells of her ignorance of my existence and of what I stand for. As the goddess of fertility her understanding of my purpose is so carefully blank. It's like she doesn't understand our joint function, or she intentionally ignores me. You are like her, aren't you? You are a symbol birth, and yet you have been kept away from chambers where you would learn your purpose. Demeter commands your quiet realms in your stead and keeps them quiet to keep you safe and to stop you from learning of me and my ways. No more! None of them will hide you from me. We were meant to be together … lovers." He bent and offered her his hand again. "Take my hand or I will drag you into Hell by your hair."

Persephone shivered. She couldn't do it.

When she didn't obey, he did as he said and took her ringlets in his stained fingers and jerked her to her feet. She cried out. She had never felt pain before. He looked in her distorted face and slipped his arms around her differently, so he carried her with her knees over one arm and her body in the other.

"I'm such a beggar," he said sardonically. "I can't even carry through on my promise to force you cruelly. I'll play my part now, but if you continue to disobey me, understand that I will not stay the beggar."

He dropped her into the seat and taking up the reins, lashed the horses and drove them back down the hole in the earth. Persephone was whipped back and forth in the chariot. Her hair and clothes were soiled in the ash and heat of their journey back down through the rock and fire that had been so inconspicuous under the carpet of mount Olympus a moment ago.

--

Hitomi slipped from her sitting position on the backseat of Van's car. Van could only spare a glance in his rear-view mirror to make sure she was okay. He weaved in and out of traffic at break-neck speeds trying to avoid the front end of Dilandau's Jaguar. Van thought a guy like him would treasure the front end of an expensive car like that. It clearly meant nothing compared to the woman Van was stealing from him.

Van changed lanes and took a quick right.

--

Eventually, the long tunnel ended and Persephone and Hades came to a great cavern. The horses landed on small outlet beside an underground river. Persephone looked around, but she couldn't see much. It was dark and there were strange animals clinging to the rocks that made up the ceiling. Their screeching sounded in her ears and she felt fear.

Hades got down from the chariot and without saying a word hauled her out by her wrist. Now she looked like him, smeared in ash and sweat, her curls unwinding, and her throat and nasal cavities burnt dry.

A boat was waiting in the black water with a strange huddled figure piloting it. Hades made no introduction but threw her on the floor of the boat facedown and took a seat at the stern. It was a large curling seat with comfortable cushions on it that was more than large enough to for the two of them at least. Once that was done, the cloaked creature pushed away from the edge of the earth and they began drifting in the water. The horses huffed and snorted, but Hades didn't even look at them.

"Do you want to sit beside me, Wife?" Hades asked as he looked down on her like she was a fish in a pond.

After their feverish plunge into the earth, this basin was cool and refreshing. She could not have opposed him then, but now, she felt like she had the power. After all, her parents had rejected his proposal. They would come after her and save her from this monster. "A husband of mine would never treat me as you have done," she said.

"Oh? If you feel I have mistreated you, then you have your mother to thank for that. I tried to do things her way and was thwarted. Now we do things my way. I'll repeat myself. Do you want to sit beside me, Wife?"

"I'm not your wife," she whispered.

He narrowed his eyes curiously. "Painful. You are painful. Get up. Take your clothes off. I want to see what you look like without that seductive silk." He looked at her expectantly. "Undress."

"No," she cried.

"Charon won't look at you. He knows who his master is … unlike you." Then he hesitated a moment, before he said, "Now that I think of it – you haven't paid him."

"What?" Persephone gasped. She didn't know what he meant. Why would she have to pay for anything? She wasn't a mortal making a deal with a god.

"You need to give him a coin for the journey," Hades persisted, propping one of his legs up on the upholstery. "Give him that sapphire clip on your shoulder. Then he'll get his tax, I'll get my view, and you won't get thrown head-first into the river Acharon."

She reached behind her and removed her back clip and slid it into Charon's outstretched hand without turning to look at him. Her dress billowed and fell in straight lines.

Hades shook his head darkly. "Your romantic appetite leaves something to be desired. You won't even let me make it even slightly enjoyable for you, will you? The story would be told best if you could say, 'He was so hungry for me he couldn't even wait until we reached his bedchamber – he ravished me in the boat'."

Persephone felt her stomach roll. "That isn't a story I would tell."

"Considering your frame of mind, your story will be much less desirable," he said insolently.

And the boat rocked on, steering its way through the ripples of water. Occasional lights travelled the shore. Not fireflies, or flames, or stars, not even the reflection of tiny shimmering rocks. Instead, the way was lighted by dead souls – lost and wandering. And the goddess Persephone was strangely worse off than them in the boat of Charon with the Lord of the Underworld dying of lust.

--

Hades' castle was completely underground. There were two entrances, one led through the river Acharon and the other led above ground to the road to Mount Olympus. A dead human would come by the riverboat, past the three-headed dog Cerberus, and into the great hall. It was a circular room with vaulted ceilings and many doors. Not all souls were evil and not all souls were good and there was no definite rule for judging them. Some went through this door where they would find relaxation after a hard life, some would review their life, some suffer, some exalt. Persephone entered the Underworld by the way of dead souls.

The circular room had one throne – large enough for the two of them to sit on comfortably. It was the same size as the one on the riverboat. Hades sat her down on it. She fell with a bump.

"Unlike your tedious position in Olympus, you will have to work here. You'll find it exhilarating, I'm sure," Hades said lazily. "I have a gift for you. It's a crown for you to wear as you sit on your throne." He put out his hand and immediately something circular shimmered into position. She had never seen a god conjure something before and she looked at him with stunned eyes.

The crown was strange to her as it was a circlet with many diamond shapes forged out of thin black iron. At the front there was one diamond above the rest. There sat the largest, whitest diamond she had ever seen.

Hades set it on her head and took her hand. Lifting her from the throne, he said, "For us, there is only one way out of this room." He took her to the middle of the circle and opened a trap door in the floor. A winding staircase led below.

The light on the floor below and in many of the rooms was a soft blue light that was reflected on the ceiling by intermittent pools of water. The first room was a sitting room. "This is where I greet any god who comes to visit. They don't come often, but a good show is put on for them when they do come. Most everything in this room will burn without diminishing – the chairs, the sculptures, the steel plants, the walls. Some of them like to feel like they're visiting Hell, so I put on a show for them. The rest of the rooms aren't like this."

The next room was almost completely taken over by the most enormous bathtub – not like her circular one at home, this one had bridges across and pedestals with statues of winged gargoyles. Hades led her straight across to the next room.

It was a library. But it was more than three times the size of hers at home. There were more metal plants and tiny trees, but these ones had real fruit dangling from them. Besides them were basins on pedestals that resembled her bird baths, but were filled with a dark sticky liquid.

"It's chocolate. Have you ever tasted it?" Hades asked.

"No."

"You'll love it. Dead humans bring the best recipes with them. No ambrosia down here."

Persephone was beginning to be mildly disturbed by his palace. It was like hers, so exactly like hers that she wondered if he made it that way especially for her or if he was just this much like her. She was also worried about what was coming next. In her tower, it was the bedroom intended for temporary lovers. She was eying the two doors in front of her that led out.

"You know what's behind that door, don't you?" he whispered coming up behind her, stroked the side of her arm. "They're both bedrooms. That one is for whores and that one is for wives. You choose."

"I don't want to see anymore."

"But I want to see you. I want to see all of you." His lips curled and Persephone knew it was the end.

--

Van jerked his head to see what was going on in the back. Hitomi was convulsing – shaking and twitching so violently she was almost falling onto the floor.

"Hang in there," he shouted, completely helpless to do more than place his hand on her shoulder for only a moment before he needed it back on the gear shift. "Damn it," he cursed, turning down a one-way road packed with traffic. The 'wrong way' signs would have frightened some off of doing something so risky, but he needed to shake Dilandau. His car wasn't as fast and he needed to take the chance. But Dilandau had no fear and his blue-white headlights followed Van down the one-way like it was nothing.

--

Persephone lay on the cold silk unfeelingly. She heard the faint sound of crunching in the background. She kept her eyes shut tight and tried not to think of anything. She didn't know if she had been slammed through the door intended for whores or the bedroom intended for wives. She only knew that her back had broken through one of them and she had been sprawled against cold sheets with the coldest god of all on top of her.

Grabbing a sheet that had been kicked aside she covered herself, but felt no warmth.

She had tried to fight, but the more she fought, the more pleasure he found in it. He had loved every second she squirmed, scratched, kicked and shrieked. Now she lay exhausted and broken as her pearl-like tears streaked her temples and welled in her ears.

"Open your mouth," he said, almost sounding kind. "I don't mean to be cruel to you – not after that. I just needed to make it clear to you that this is how we were meant to be together. Open your mouth," he said again and Persephone – tired and sick at heart did as she was told.

He had been peeling a pomegranate and inside her mouth he slid six kernels. She bit down on them and the juice flooded her mouth. Hades bent, sealing her lips with a kiss and though she was unaware of it – that was their wedding.

* * *

_Author's Notes: Thanks everyone for reading and REVIEWING. I didn't have a beta reader, so hopefully there are no embarrassing errors. I don't mind a few tiny mistakes, but I hope there's nothing too grotesque. Hopefully. Thanks everyone for supporting me. I need the support as I've suddenly become swamped with writing work outside this story - which is unusual and a little exciting. I'm opening a new topic on my forum 'Shivering Wings' and that'll be available by the time you're finished reading. Oh, and my poll is still available on my profile page. Van still hot? I know - silly question. Anyway - if you haven't reviewed up til now - please REVIEW. This is a key chapter in this story and every little word my readers can offer would be helpful to let me know if this extremely different chapter is in line. Thank you very much!_


	21. Burnt Offerings Become Ashes

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne or Greek myths, but no one cares if I play off those.

**Chapter 21**

**Burnt Offerings become Ashes**

The next day, Hades gave her a dress to wear. He said he was taking her back to Olympus to announce their wedding, and she obviously couldn't wear the dress she had worn down to mere rags after their adventure. It was a red dress with a boat neckline and fastened over the shoulders with ruby clips. The dress had two long slits up both sides and tiny lattice work down to her knee. "The colour of the dawn," he had said, but to her it was the colour of sunset.

Her life was over.

She knew it was over when he woke her and showed her into the room with the bathtub in it. The water was hot as she stepped in. He got in with her. Conjuring was apparently one of his gifts because he made everything she needed appear out of nowhere. But it didn't matter what he gave her, she didn't have the will to take care of herself. She turned away from him and stared at the water, because she didn't care if he killed her for bad behaviour now. If only she could die.

She had been violated and woken to discover another hideous truth. Hades did not need her to agree at a wedding ceremony. All he needed was for her to eat a piece of food from the underworld. That was all. After swallowing those six tiny kernels of pomegranate, she was now doomed to spent six months out of every year here … with him.

"Why didn't you make me eat twelve?" she whispered, sliding away from him in the water.

He sighed. "I would not limit your power by forcing you to live here always. You are life and even though you are now married to death, you still need time to do your appointed duties in Olympus. I doubt your mother will withhold your responsibilities any longer. Since you are to be mine – you will be responsible, strong, and completely uncompromising. Besides, I don't want to deprive your father of your company. There are still some things to settle. I believe he will be pleased with this arrangement." He paused, untying his straight white tresses and letting them float in the water. Then he said to her, "Why don't you clean yourself? There are black streaks in your hair still."

"I don't want to. I don't care what I look like."

"I care," he said, grabbing her chin and forcing her to look at him.

His red eyes pierced her and she had this bone-chilling fear that he was going to do something awful to her again.

"You hurt me," she mumbled and tried to turn away.

"Hurt me back," he challenged. "Make me cry the way I made you cry last night."

"I would rather die."

He smirked. "Too bad that isn't an option."

She didn't have the energy to glare at him, but instead slipped from his fingers by dunking herself in the water. She stayed under for minutes, but she couldn't drown. She had played that way when she was a child, but it didn't matter how long she stayed underwater, she always immerged as if she hadn't missed a breath.

When she came up, he took her in his arms and washed her hair and skin like she wasn't his wife, but instead like his pet. It made her uncomfortable to be so close to him, but he seemed intent on getting her ready for their journey. So, he hurried them out of the basin and moved them along in what he saw as the routine of preparing to go to Olympus.

"You must look unfathomably beautiful," he said. "But you must also look changed. You must look strong and womanly. You must come home like you have conquered a beast."

"I haven't conquered you," she choked over her shoulder, as he arranged her hair. It wasn't that he wanted to help her. He did it because she had no idea how to do it herself. "No one would believe it."

He stabbed a pin through the top portion he had knotted off. "They must. Together we now control the life and death of each person on Gaia. That is more than either Zeus or Poseidon can boast. We must display the will to control it fairly. Are you ready?"

She looked into his face and her expression read, "Only if you say I am."

"You need paint," he said after his appraisal. Out of the air he summoned two tiny jars. He painted charcoal around her eyes and made her lips blood-red. "After today, this paint will be famous," he said dryly as he moved away to prepare himself for their departure. "After all, I made it just for you."

It was then that she realized that his clothes were in the other bedroom. She sat in the room for whores. This was where he brought silks for her. This was where he left the paint he had just applied to her face on the table. This was where he had raped her. This was where she belonged, even though a marriage had been forced on her and she was technically his wife. Until she went to his bedroom of her own free will, she would live in this second-rate room. It basically amounted to forever, because that was something she could _never_ do.

Persephone searched the room silently for a mirror. She wanted to see what she looked like now. Finally, she found one. It was a hand mirror with a long gilded handle. When she looked at her face, she was astonished at the transformation. Before this, she had shiny, bouncy curls that glistened in the sunlight. Her nose had been dusted in freckles. Her lips had been the colour of seashells and her eyes were the green of new leaves uncurling in the sun.

Now, she was an entirely different creature. Goddess of the Underworld; she believed it. The freckles were gone and the brightness of her complexion completely diminished to the bone white of a storm-worn sand dollar. Her hair seemed so much longer because her curls were no where near as tight. Not only that, but the pin she thought he was sticking in her hair wasn't a pin at all. It was a peacock feather that had been mostly trimmed except for the eye, which stuck out alone from her knot. The paint around her eyes almost seemed to change their colour. Now they were the green of deep forests and almost appeared black. All together, the virginal look was completely gone from her and in its place was that of a seductress. That was what he meant by a woman who had tamed him. Only someone more terrifying than him could work their magic on him, and it wasn't her. A child like her was only a toy.

***

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Van hollered. His darling was sobbing like a lost child in the backseat now, and Van hated himself for bringing this upon her. He had no choice and now he couldn't stop it. He turned left and got back on the right side of the road. The front of Dilandau's car smashed into his tail, but he didn't stop. He smoothly corrected his steering and went on.

***

Hades took her back down the river to travel to Olympus. He mentioned something about 'another way', but said simply that the way was sealed for the time being. However, his coachman skills improved when he was trying to preserve appearances – hers. So the ride was not bumpy or bruising.

When they arrived at the gates, they were greeted by two unusual sights. The first was the obvious gathering of an army. Apollo was chasing around, checking weapons on his soldiers and banging shields with other gods. So far, no one noticed Persephone and Hades standing placidly at the gate. Hades insisted they stand unconcerned with what was passing and look as though it did not matter that an army was being raised for the sake of chasing them.

"It is too late now," he said under his breath.

Suddenly, all the soldiers parted for Demeter, she was waving her arms and denouncing them with authority. Raidne and Teles were in strewn helplessly in the clearing. They yelped painfully as Demeter grasped both of them by their hair and pulled them into kneeling positions.

"Let it be known," she called out loudly to the assembly. "For their crime against my daughter, these two nymphs are cursed forevermore. They will never know the joy of true lasting love. Instead, they will feast on the flesh of the men that crash against the shore believing that they have heard angels. These two are not angels, but henceforth they shall be sirens!"

Even as Demeter spoke, the two nymphs began changing. Their teeth became sharp and ferocious, their fingernails grew into claws, and their eyes completely lost the soft loving look they had once possessed.

As Persephone looked down on her two servants who had betrayed her, her mind began to click. Because they had not protected her, she had been hurt – hurt so badly – her chest throbbed even if she only thought of the beginning or ending of it. What her mother did was not enough. They had not even tried to help her escape, but cared only for their own security. In they end; they believed she would care for them.

Persephone felt for Hades' hand. She knew he still clutched his chariot whip. Grasping the end of it between her fingers, he relinquished it. Grabbing a whip was a new experience for her, but she was a goddess with powers of ability no one suspected. She was not the daughter of the god of lightning for nothing, and for once she was angry enough to display it. Against Hades, no fruit could come from any upheaval. He was powerful in ways she had never seen before. But against these treacherous hags, she could at least have the satisfaction.

She marched into the clearing with her red dress billowing behind her and her red hair flying away from her face.

The soldiers saw her and moved aside immediately.

Persephone didn't even look at them. She knew what they were thinking. They had no idea who she was. But her mother – she knew. Persephone couldn't stand to meet her mother's eyes, but she could look at Raidne and Teles and her glower was sharper than a dagger.

She unwound the whip and let it fall to the ground in a lump of snaky coils.

The sirens knew their mistress and prostrated themselves on the ground before her and begged, "Lady, forgive us. We were frightened."

Persephone breathed hard, her chest heaving. "Shut your mouths. You don't know fear. You don't know pain. I've just become acquainted with both of them and I've come to introduce them to you." She cracked the whip perfectly and the soldiers fanned out in waves to avoid the end of it.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hades. His arms were folded across his breastplate. His eyes were flames and she could feel his heart pounding in feverish excitement. This was all he wanted from her first appearance on Olympus and more.

But whatever his reaction, Persephone didn't care. He had nothing to do with this. They had betrayed her in an unforgivable way. They should have helped her run – even if the exercise was pointless.

Then she let in on them. She cracked the whip so hard against the cobblestones that dust flew. On Mount Olympus – dust flew. Someone whistled at the impossibility of it. This was a place of perfect peace. But now the most precious and sensitive goddess of them all drew fresh blood.

Raidne and Teles ran screaming as Persephone's whip came down on both their backs in one stroke. Over and over she whipped them, cutting and breaking their skin everywhere. They ran, trying to push through the gates, but not before the whip twisted around Raidne's throat. Persephone yanked her towards her and slapped her across the face twice. She thought of strangling the siren, but when she saw Teles hesitate at the door, waiting for her sister, she decided against it. Maybe they had learned something – even though it couldn't make up for what they'd done. Her mother had cursed them. That was enough. She hit Raidne again for spite and this time she felt the twinge in her hand. Then she flung the whip free from the siren's neck.

"Get out of here," she shouted. Then she spat on Raidne's face.

Persephone didn't wait for them to leave. Instead, she turned on her heel and tossed Hades' whip over her shoulder. She walked through the wind and dust. The shimmer of her red dress floated through a drabness like the eye of a storm. She walked tall and straight, a woman of extremely high rank, past countless soldiers and turned only to find her father. She turned for no one – not Apollo – though he looked like a man who had just seen Hell. Not her mother – who was trailing after her weakly. Not Hades – who sauntered behind her like he was exhibiting a rare piece of art that he himself had created.

Her father stood by his throne at the far end of his temple. Inside the stone structure, a long corridor led past many gods – not just those who were planning to invade the Underworld to retrieve her, but everyone. She walked past them all, keeping her eyes only on her father.

He did not come down the stairs to greet her, but instead watched her as she proceeded up the path. Perhaps he too did not know her. Then she realized that he was not looking at her at all, but at her husband behind her.

"Hades," he greeted stiffly.

"Zeus, your daughter and I have come to tell you of our elopement and marriage," her husband said lightly.

"You wanted her this badly?" Zeus asked in a low voice. He did not say anything about the kidnapping or of the army that surrounded them.

"Father," Persephone said interrupting them. She wouldn't be left out of decisions or discussions any longer. "I have eaten the food of the Underworld and shall be required to spend six months of every year there. I apologize for my waywardness."

"You have grown too quickly," he observed.

"Kidnap and rape will do that," she said.

The look on her father's face was strange. "Come here, both of you," he said, beckoning them into the chamber behind his throne.

Hades put his hand on Persephone's back as they entered.

She had been in this room many times. She had lounged on the couches when she was a child. It seemed a different place now. It felt as though the familiarity was wasted on her.

Hades turned and closed the door himself to give them privacy.

Persephone did not know what kind of reaction her father would have to this news, and she waited with her hands clenched into fists. Would he be able to free her of this bargain? She prayed there was as she watched him stand, giving Hades a strong look of disapproval.

Finally he spoke, and his words were not at all what she had expected. "To Hell with you," he muttered, looking sharply at Hades. "Brother, this is foul trickery. In the counsel you said that you wanted to make her your bride, but what you have done far exceeds the desires you put up for Demeter to see. Why couldn't you have worked to convince her of your deep love for Persephone rather than hauling her off by her hair and forcing me to prepare for war? Apollo was ready to raze the Underworld for her sake."

Hades snorted. "And I should care what Apollo does? That brat wouldn't know power if it took his head off."

"_He's_ my son!" Zeus raged.

"_She's_ your daughter!" Hades countered. "Mine now. And I didn't say I loved her."

Zeus stopped and looked at Hades like he didn't believe what he was hearing. "You …" he breathed, but didn't continue.

Persephone broke the silence. "Father, please help me. Please reverse the contract. I did not partake of the fruit knowing that it would force me to live in the Underworld."

Zeus shook his head. "There's nothing I can do. I can give you a potion to drink that will make you able to eat the food freely now, but it only works on those who are already forced to live there. So, it won't shorten your time. I apologize, it's the only gift I can give you, daughter." He placed his hand on Persephone's head and peered into her eyes, adding weight to his meaning.

She nodded piteously. She should have known. Hades would have a perfect knowledge of what Zeus could and could not do. He knew there was no saving her if he got her to do such a simple thing.

Zeus walked to the door. Putting his hand on the door knob, he turned and said to Hades, "This was a black thing to do. However, know this, no matter how much you change my daughter – I won't forget her."

Then he was gone and Persephone was left alone with her husband and her future. She didn't cry, though she wanted to. There was no need to make a fool of herself in front of everyone. There would be plenty of time, plenty of dark lonely nights in her future … and she could cry as many of them as she wanted to.

***

Hades arranged everything so quickly it was truly frightening. Persephone had duties assigned to her the six months of the year that she could spend on Olympus with her mother. She would live there for the spring and summer, and then when birth was lowest during the fall and winter, she would return to the Underworld and her mother would carry on without her. The birth seasons had not exactly been organized this way before, but all the gods agreed that it was for the best. Having a time of rest helped everyone.

Once everything was in order she went underground with Hades, kissing her sobbing mother good-bye. Persephone didn't know the depths of her mother's suffering, because Demeter tried her best to keep her sorrow to herself. But some of her feelings were too close to the surface to be concealed. She believed that she had truly been the one to destroy her daughter's happiness. She had been the one to give her Raidne and Teles as servants. She had been the one who chose to raise her child in perfect innocence. And worst of all, she had been the one who refused Hades without questioning him. She could have compromised and won Persephone a better home or a better husband. She would have done it, too, if she hadn't wanted to keep her daughter all to herself. Her pretty child, who she loved endlessly – now draped in red silk shouting commands like a blood soaked necromancer. Demeter hid her face when she could, but Persephone understood more than she admitted. The only way she could comfort her mother was to keep the details of her own unhappiness to herself.

Back in those black rooms, Persephone stayed in the room intended for whores. Days and nights felt almost the same. It didn't matter if the sun was in the sky or the moon, because they couldn't feel the warmth either way. She found other rooms besides the ones he had initially shown her. He had many beasts besides the horses and Cerberus.

There were practically no servants. There was Charon, but he wasn't exactly Hades' servant. His purpose was more for the dead he ferried than for the god, for the god didn't care if the ferryman did his job and ferryman didn't care if the god did his. Charon was paid for his work by the dead by one coin that was put in their mouths when they were buried. A soul who had no money to pay him would wander a hundred years before they found they way. In any case, Hades did not need servants. His animals were immortal beings that did not need grooming or feeding. Also, he was an excellent conjurer and required no one to wait on him as other gods did.

The work of the dead was taxing, but there was no rush to complete it. Hades would lie on his throne like it was a couch with his eyes closed and decide on the fate of a thousand souls in an hour. Demeter had not exaggerated when she said that Hades was perfect in his role. Even his rebellious wife could not deny his talent. When she took over, she would agonize over one soul for hours and in the end decide to send them to the resting room to wait for further judgment. Hours later, Hades would come and empty the resting room. If he found her indecision frustrating, he never mentioned it. It didn't matter how many hours he spent or she spent – there was always more to be done – more souls waiting …

As for her nights with him - they fought. They threw things; broke things. She raged, he beat her, she cried. Against her better judgement, she would look for signs that he was falling in love with her, but his treatment of her never altered. He didn't mind her slow work, but he wanted her to be strong willed, like he was. He was harsh if he found her struggling with her morality. He wanted her to have the will to make mistakes and take responsibility for them. When she failed in it, he hurt her. She could never be happy here. It was impossible.

When she returned to Olympus, Hades dropped her at the gate. She wore a black backless dress and her arms were stained onyx from all the dirty souls she had touched. Hades took her hand and kissed it before he rode his horses on. Looking around she saw at once that she didn't fit in anymore. The gods and demigods glared at her. Her mother was the only one who didn't follow her with her eyes like she was a traitor.

Apollo's reaction to her changed self was the most heartbreaking. He cried in the open – falling to his knees. He tore at his hair and covered his head in ashes because of the passion of his grief.

"Persephone is lost," he cried as she stood still as a statue before him.

She turned to her mother and said, "There's work to do."

Each time she made the revolution – to Olympus – to the Underworld – she became different. Sometimes she was apathetic. Sometimes she let herself say exactly how she felt … but life with Hades was not something she could grow to love. He was not a person she could grow to love. He showed her no mercy and she began to long for death. She wanted out of her body. Her body belonged to him. She wanted out.

It was hundreds of years before she found a way. She was in the throne room judging spirits when the spirit of a young woman approached her. She was holding a bag of gold in her arms that was almost overflowing. A person did not need that much gold to bribe Charon, so Persephone questioned her about it.

"It's for my family. Every one of them was murdered by demons. I couldn't find their bodies, but I wanted to free them from the prison of being wandering spirits, so I brought money for them," the girl said.

"Were you expecting to die?" Persephone asked.

"Yes. I took my own life. I couldn't stand to live any more. I was so frightened. I was the last one alive. These people were … murdering and eating my family. I didn't want to wait for them to come to kill me too, so I …"

Persephone immediately guessed that the people the girl referred to were somehow connected to Raidne and Teles – her old cursed servants. "How did you kill yourself?"

"I drowned, Lady."

"Ah … so your body is complete and unharmed in the water somewhere?"

"Yes, but I don't want another chance at life. I only want to be with my family again. Please help me find them."

Persephone nodded. "I might be able to help you, but you have to give me a few things in return. And," she continued, holding up one finger, "you are going to have to understand that my help won't be immediate. I can cut back on their time and reunite your family, but not instantly."

"What do you want?" the ghost asked desperately.

"I need your permission to borrow your body, and I need you to tell me your mortal name."

"What do you need my body for?" she shivered.

"That's not your concern," Persephone said stiffly. "Do you want my help or not?"

"Stella. You can use my body."

"And I need you to give me that bag of gold coins. I will give the coins to your family when I find them." Persephone's plan was almost perfect. If she borrowed Stella's body, Raidne and Teles would probably be the first to find her and she needed them to help her. Her mind would be completely empty. They owned her. The one flaw was that now she needed a place to hide Stella's spirit. If she put her soul in the resting room, Hades would certainly find her and if he didn't interrogate her, he would send her off to her final resting place and then Persephone wouldn't be able to find her in the end. Finally, she got an idea. She'd put Stella in one of her empty perfume bottles to rest. "Come with me," she said, opening the trap door and bringing the dead soul into the main part of the castle.

She took Stella all the way to the whore's bedroom and took the bag of gold from her.

"Thank you for your kindness," Stella said, before Persephone sealed her in the glass bottle.

"Think nothing of it," Persephone whispered as she went to lie down on the bed. Her head fell on the pillow as she went over the steps of her plan once more.

Astral projection was simple in theory. All a person needed to do was separate their spirit from their body. Humans could do it. The necromancers who worshiped Hades did it all the time. She'd seen it done countless times. She'd do it this time.

Breathe slowly. Breathe evenly. Envision flying. She did everything the necromancers did, but she did them in seconds rather than hours and even though she'd never done it before her spirit flew from her body as though she was a sheet swept in an updraft.

Her body lay beneath her. For many years she had detested looking at herself because of the changes wrought in appearance since she had come to live in the Underworld. Now as she saw her body without her spirit, she realized that it was her spirit that hurt and not her body at all. Her body was the body of a goddess which could not be marred by time or abuse or fatigue, but her spirit was the spirit of a woman that longed for love and happiness. This being the case, she ached as she scooped up the bag of coins and drifted to the door.

She disappeared around the corner and thought of the many years this idea had eluded her. She should have realized ages ago that it was her body that committed the sin by eating the pomegranate and not her spirit. Hades could not trap that and as long as her body remained here – she could go anywhere she wanted.

But there remained one final obstacle and she would not pretend that it was cleared until it was. There was still Charon, the river master, who needed to bear her down the Acharon to Stella's watery grave. Persephone had the fare with her, but she did not know if he would take her. It was impossible to trick him in believing she was someone else. She was never as naked as she was when she passed through the halls of the Underworld out of her flesh.

When she reached the portal, Charon had just arrived with a collection of new souls. He turned his blank face towards her and she approached to pay him the required coin. "Where is your master?" he questioned dully.

"Asleep. Please take me," she asked simply. It was impossible to rouse much emotion. An emotional appeal wouldn't have meant anything to the ferryman anyway.

"Get in," he said, taking the gold from her.

She sat down and he pushed away from the shore. They had never spoken. She did not know if he had feelings or if he pitied her. He never said. The water ran smoothly and the twinkle of lost souls along the cavern walls lit their way.

"Lady," he said in a low voice once the dock was out of sight. "You know this is only temporary."

"I know … but I want it anyway." A few moments passed as they flowed against the current – the unnatural way. "If he asks you what happened. Please tell him that I left a message for him with you. Say, 'Now you can have her whenever you want'."

***

Van swung his head around to check on Hitomi for the millionth time. She had stopped fighting. She no longer shook or cried, but lay perfectly still as if dead. Van spared two fingers on her throat to check her pulse. He hoped he wasn't imagining that it felt strong.

His mind was coming apart in pieces and everything around him was taking a chunk. Keeping his mind on the mad car chase as well as watching over Hitomi as she went through this ordeal was almost too much. Argh! He had to somehow find a way to lose Dilandau. Mercy! He was persistent! Van had a full tank of gas when this started, and he found himself wishing passionately that Dilandau's tank was smaller or that he had started out with less fuel. Van didn't know how else he was going to outrun the maggot if he didn't run out of gas.

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_Author's Notes: Serious thanks to everyone who reads and reviews. My forum 'Shivering Wings' is available through my profile and my forum is still good for chapter 21. Also, my poll is still up on my profile about Van being hot or not. I like to think Van's always hot, but you know ... I want to know if I play him right. Anyway, I've really appreciated all the support and comments. I'm sorry to announce that this story is being suspended until further notice. It may be weeks before I get back on course or it may be months. I'll talk about this in a little more detail on my forum._


	22. The First Dream Part One

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne and frankly - I don't think this has much to do with Escaflowne.

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**Chapter 22**

**The First Dream**

She was wet – so cold. There was water up her nose and in her mouth. There was something round and hard on her tongue. Spitting it out and blowing her nose into her palm, she tried to clear her nasal passages. Finally, she took in her first breath. It stung. Opening her eyes, she saw that she was washed up on the beach and there was a gold coin nestled in the sand in front of her. That must have been what was in her mouth. There was a brown cloth sack beside her, too, but she took no notice of it then. She felt something on her face. Was someone there? No. The sun was rising … whatever her circumstances – there was the sun. Its light and warmth reached her face and caressed her cheek like the warm breath of a mother.

"Oh Heaven!" she cried to the skies raising her arms in the air. "Oh Heaven! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She put her hands in the sand and pushed herself onto her feet. She tried to take a step, but the dress she was wearing weighed so much. It was made of wool, and sopping wet, it was so heavy. It was so cold and uncomfortable that she immediately stripped except for the lightest petticoat that had been closest to her skin. Now her shoulders and arms were bare and the sun bore down on her so warmly she felt like dancing.

She chased down the beach without a care for whom or what should see her. She hollered and cried and drank in the landscape like she had never seen one before. The mountains rose and the forest hummed. There were no houses except for a grey stone tower set slightly away from the beach in the grass, but when she looked at it, she recognized that it was her home. Her body seemed to remember that this was where she belonged. She jumped and skipped like a prisoner free from jail.

Home! She was home!

Troublesome details like her name, what she had been doing in the water, what was in the bag, and the rest of her past didn't bother her. All that mattered was the feeling of freedom that coursed through her body.

She ran to the tower and looked in every room. She found hers and took off her undergarments. She dried herself with a sheet that was hung on a nail in the corner, and then found new clothes to wear. As she looked through her wardrobe, she saw that all her clothes were alike. White dresses with dark woollen over-frocks. She grabbed one and put it on. As she dressed herself, she noticed that her hair was dripping on her clothes. She grabbed the sheet again and twisted it around her black hair to wring as much water from it as possible. Then she combed through the tangles with a seashell comb she found on the chest at the end of the bed. Swiftly, like she had done it every day of her life, she braided it into two long plaits.

With that done, she went downstairs to find something to eat. She felt like she hadn't eaten in ages. She was so hungry. In the kitchen there was bread and fruit, which she ate happily, drinking from the water pitcher on the cutting board. The kitchen had ground wheat, dried fruit, and bundles of dried herbs hanging from the ceiling. Prowling around, she looked for meat. She wanted meat for supper. Then she realized that it must be in the smoke house.

"How silly!" she exclaimed, still buoyant on her feeling of freedom.

A path ran from the tower to where a tiny building sat in the middle of two tall bunches of grass, but the girl stopped and stood still as if dead. There were trails of blood that soaked the yellow grass of the path and ran under the closed door. The young woman tried to steady herself. It was a fresh kill and one of the men had taken it in the smoke house to butcher and ready for smoking. That was what she told herself as she approached. There was nothing to be afraid of.

Putting her hand to the knot in the wooden door, she swung it open. She gasped in horror and let the door fall shut. Turning on her heel, she ran as fast as she could back towards the tower.

Inside the tiny smoke house there were two women hunched over a human body – a man. The girl couldn't identify him, but he was in pieces with his bare bones showing and his internal organs exposed and stinking. The women themselves were terrifying as they pulled his flesh off his bones with their fangs. They had sharp dangerous eyes and growled like panthers.

She had to get away. They were cannibals. They would eat her, too.

"Vangalis! Stop her!" the girl heard a women shriek.

The girl made it to the front door of her tower and slammed it shut behind her. She pulled down the bar that was meant as a lock and secured it, but she wasn't sure that that would be enough to save her, so she pushed a chair from the next room over it. After that was done. She believed for a moment that she was safe, but then she saw a dark head slip past the window.

Her eyes flew around the room in a panic. There were three windows in her view where she stood right now and there was no way of securing all of them.

She tore up to her bedroom and shut the door. There was no lock on the door, but the girl pushed her wardrobe over it by knocking it onto its side. It was too heavy for her to move otherwise. At least the door was made of good heavy wood. Then she began piling everything she owned on top of the wardrobe until it looked like a mountain.

The girl braced herself against the door and sat very still. She was so afraid she had sweat running down her temples in rivers. At least the window was now well above ground and she wouldn't have to worry about one of them getting through it.

But then that dark head popped up over the sill.

The girl closed her eyes and screamed till she was hoarse, but nothing happened. No one grabbed her and bit her arm or forced her through the open window. She screamed again, but no one touched her.

"Open your eyes," a deceptively calm voice said.

"I don't want to," she cried, shaking her head and screaming again.

"I'm not going to eat you," the voice said, trying again.

"I don't believe you."

"Open your eyes, Woman!"

Her eyes snapped open.

That dark head was still at the window. He didn't even enter the room. His arms were crossed on the window sill. He seemed weightless as if his feet were resting on something and he looked amused. He was ugly. Or at least he seemed ugly. As she stared at him, she wondered if he really was. What was ugly about him? His eyes? Yes, his eyes were definitely hideous. They didn't look like a human's eyes at all – more like an animal's – and the rest of his face was definitely flawed. His nose was too pointed, his hair was too wild, and his cheeks were too thin.

But then he smiled a quirky thoughtful smile and said, "You're not the girl from before, are you?"

"What?"

"The girl that was here before," he continued, "she didn't act like this. She didn't run screaming into an enclosed space where she knew she would be easily caught. See?" he said, and flapped large white wings, so the girl saw he had flown up to her window. A single feather slipped in through the window and landed at her feet. The girl stared at it, transfixed, as the monster went on in a casual tone. "She would have stayed on the ground floor, because that would have provided the fastest escape. Actually, I thought you were just coming in here to get a weapon, but what you've done makes no sense. She was smart enough to get away. You look the same, but you're not her, are you?"

"I don't know," the girl whispered. "I don't remember."

"Your eyes are different. Hers weren't green. They were brown. I tasted her blood once," the monster said as he folded his wings against his back and slipped into the room. "It was amazing. She tasted like sunshine and bonfire dances." He put a single finger to his lips and said, "Don't tell anyone, but I helped her escape from here. I made sure she had enough money to take her anywhere and hid it from my bloodthirsty relatives. She was supposed to be long gone from here and yet … here you are."

"Leave me alone," she begged, almost crying in terror.

"No. I want to see something." He lowered himself until he was almost on top of her and put one hand on her head and the other on her shoulder. He turned her head so he could see her throat. "You have my mark. I bit you. So, if you are the same girl, why don't you remember anything? And why have your eyes changed colour?"

At that moment, a woman appeared at the window. She also flew through the air and entered the room like an angel. This woman was closer to the girl's idea of beauty. Her hair curled in black and blonde waves. Her colourless eyes stared down at the girl crouched on the floor like she was an insect. Then she squinted. "Vangalis, is this the same girl?"

Apparently, that was his name – Vangalis. He smiled and said, "Something is wrong here. She's got my bite marks, but she's … different."

"Her eyes," the woman said reflectively. "My mind travels back to a different time when I see them. It's the colour. I never thought of green as the colour of wrath until a green-eyed goddess tore strips off my skin with a whip intended for animals. Who are you?"

The girl thought hard. "Stella," she stuttered. "My name is Stella."

"What a lie!" the woman laughed pitilessly. "I am Raidne. Does that name mean anything to you?"

Unbidden, the words spewed from Stella's lips, "It makes me want to tear another strip off you, you filthy witch!"

The woman's face went from cool confidence to absolute fear instantly. "It's you!" she fell to the floor, bowing and pressing her forehead into the wood. Then she beckoned for Vangalis to do the same, which he immediately did. Their wings folded and disappeared into their backs as they knelt.

The girl didn't know what to do. "What's happening?" she asked. After her outburst she had completely reverted back to the girl who trembled in front of winged cannibals.

"You are the Lady Persephone, daughter of Mighty Zeus and Gentle Demeter, Goddess of Fertility, Goddess of the Underworld, and wife of the Dark Lord Hades, God of the Underworld, son of Chronos, brother to Zeus the God of Heaven ..."

"Stop!" she interrupted. "My name is Stella."

Raidne ignored her and went on grovelling. "We'll clean up this tower and make it habitable for My Lady, if you wish it. Or we'll take you off the island and back to the mainland. We'll do anything you wish."

"I thought this was the mainland. I saw mountains in the distance."

"No. This is the southern part of the island. You can see the mountains from here, but if you go to the north end, you'll see that this land isn't connected to them. It's a long way. It's not possible to swim it. A person must be taken by boat and even then it is a long journey. Do you wish to go there?"

"What is here on the island?"

"This tower and our cave are the only liveable places. The rest is wilderness with a few wild animals. The people who tried to settle here brought sheep. They may be dead, we don't know," Raidne paused, and caught her breath. When she spoke again it was a dead entreaty, "My Lady, Teles and I regret what we did to you every moment of our lives. Please give us some way to make amends. We will do anything to correct our grave misconduct. I beg of you, is there anyway to break the curse your beloved goddess mother put on us?"

Stella had no idea what Raidne was talking about. She didn't believe she was this goddess Persephone. She wasn't a goddess, but if she played along with it, then they wouldn't hurt her. They would even take her off the island if she wanted. But she had to give them something to do so that she would seem like she was giving them a way to repay their debt.

"I want to live here for a time," Stella said after a moment. "I would go directly to the mainland as you say, but my memory is muddled, so I shall live here until I remember enough to live competently. Are all the people here dead?"

"All of them, except me, my sister, and my son," Raidne muttered hopelessly.

Stella's eyes travelled over Vangalis. He must be Raidne's son. His body was awfully ridged. His shoulder blades suck out so far that his back looked like a bull's. His arms and legs were well muscled, and he said that he had helped a girl - possibly her - escape. There was definitely something good about him and even if he was ugly, she thought that she wanted to know why she suddenly felt peculiar when she looked at him.

"Is this man your son?" Stella asked Raidne.

"Yes. He's my son," she said, raising her head. "Do you want him?"

"For a servant," Stella said, wondering if it sounded plausible.

"He's yours."

Expecting some reaction, Stella turned to Vangalis, but his face bore no mark that he was unhappy with this change of events. In fact, she thought she heard him say under his breath, "Bonfire dances."

* * *

_Author's Notes: Okay, this story still sits in my 'suspended' pile, but I've been working on it when I have time. This chapter grew to over 13 pages long, with a heck of a whole lot more to talk about, so I decided to cut it up. I would have liked to chop it somewhere closer to page 8 instead of at the end of page four, but it couldn't be helped. This was the only logical place to cut it. If I were releasing this for a printed publication I would leave it in one hunk, but I would rather get this bit out sooner rather than later. I love you guys. And I've had so many lovely comments that remind me to get to work on this when I am still feeling ... overwhelmed. In any case, thanks to everyone who reviews. And we'll see what happens with Vangalis and Stella in the next half - blustery romances are such fun! Look forward to it and don't forget about me. Cheers! _

_I'll have a forum up too, so look for it through my 'Shivering Wings' forum available through my profile.  
_


	23. The First Dream Part Two

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne.

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**Chapter 23**

**The First Dream – Part Two**

First, they tidied her bedroom. Then she sent them out to clean the smoke house and to remove any other corpses that might be in the vicinity. They were to remove all traces of blood and trim the grass around the smoke house. Stella didn't want to see human blood smeared anywhere near her home or stumble upon any surprises. After that much was done, and it took days for them to finish, she sent Raidne and her sister Teles back to their cave. Something about them made her detest them, but she for some reason didn't feel that way about Vangalis. It wasn't that she liked him, but she could tolerate him and she needed his help if she was going to live here comfortably.

Once they were alone, the two of them went through the house and decided which of the rooms would be used for what. The tower had four floors. Stella's bedroom had been on the third floor, while it appeared that the other members of her family had slept on the second floor. The top floor was used for nothing at all. Apparently, it was much colder than the other rooms because it had so much open space – two balconies. That was the room Vangalis said he wanted for his own when he slept at the tower.

"You see," he said. "The people who were living here most recently did not build this tower. That's why we didn't notice them living here for so long, because they simply moved in. This tower was built one hundred and thirteen years ago by one of my mother's old lovers. He couldn't live in her cave with her because he was a human, so he chose to build this tower. It wasn't easy, considering it is built entirely of stone and there isn't exactly a place to cut stone on this island. He had every block brought in by boat and had his slaves put it together piece by piece."

"That sounds romantic," Stella said as she stepped out onto the southern balcony and looked out to sea.

Vangalis swallowed something in his mouth. "Hmm … Slaves are still people and I don't really like murder."

"Are you saying they killed them?"

He nodded gravely.

"Aren't you a murderer, like them?" she asked quietly, feeling a constriction in her throat.

"Not really. But if I'm to survive, I'll have to go home to my mother and her sister regularly."

"Why?"

"I don't subsist on the same food you do, so I'll need to go home to eat from time to time. I'll spend all the rest of the time doing what you want me to do."

"You don't mind?" she asked.

He looked at her carefully, his brown eyes flashing wickedly. What was he thinking? Then he continued his story. "My mother says that he built this tower because it was his dream to spend his evenings trying to guess if my mother would fly in to visit him from the south from or the north. He wanted it to be a surprise and he loved watching her fly."

"He wasn't your father?"

"No. He wasn't, but of all the stories my mother has of her life, I like the one about this tower the best. I've always looked at it and thought that something good would come of it."

"That's strange."

"So, I can have this room?" he asked.

"It's yours. Now go chop fire wood and I'll find blankets for your bed."

"Don't do that!" he exclaimed, rushing to her side. "Don't take care of me. I'll take care of you. Until my body breaks and I'm blind and limp, I'll take care of you, so don't worry about me," he said, and suddenly, his eyes didn't look quite so hideous to her. In fact, he looked gentle. "I'm a siren anyway, so I'm not as frail as I look," he said, bending down and kissing her hand.

Stella allowed it, because she didn't know what else to do. A shiver ran through her. She didn't know why his respect moved her, but it touched her to the core.

***

Vangalis was chopping firewood. Stella watched him through the window. He sang as he worked and everything that came out of his mouth sounded like the sky had mated with the sea and somehow produced the music of the heavens and the deep and now they lived in harmony in his throat. Actually, his speaking voice was lovely too, deep and full of feeling. When he sang, he sang of powerful emotions; of long lost loves, bitter regrets, loneliness, betrayal, passion and about each and every aspect of their physical world – trees, leaves, swallows, clouds. As he chopped the wood, he was singing about the stars, and how they danced at night.

Stella finally got tired of listening from the window and decided to take him a pitcher of water. He looked thirsty and he worked so hard for her every day.

Taking the water out, she sat on the wood pile and waited for him to finish his song. "What's it called?" she asked when he was finished.

Suddenly he looked shy and he cast his eyes downward. "Well, it's called Stella. Didn't you know that Stella means stars?"

"No. Um," she faltered. "I'm sorry. The old me; did you love her?" Stella was not convinced that she was Persephone. She was Stella and she had only lost her memory. However, she had already decided that she would talk to the sirens as though she had no doubt that their story was true. If it wasn't true, Vangalis would cease to protect her and his mother and aunt probably wouldn't let her survive until morning.

"No," he said without hesitation. "I did not love her. She was just so lovely and young that it seemed a pity for her to be eaten by my mother. I wanted to save her, but not because I was in love with her. She wasn't like you. She was earthy and round and she had a laugh that was … not beautiful. You haven't laughed like her once."

"Yet, you bit her," Stella reminded him. "And after having tasted her blood you refrained from eating her, yet you did not love her?"

"Yes, I bit her. I don't know if I told you, but I don't eat flesh. I drink blood, but I've never been so starved that I bled a person dry. There's so little to eat here that I couldn't afford not to. I'm a creature of appetite after all, though it disgusts me. And I can't really escape being an accessory to murder, but I haven't tried to drink your blood yet, so I think I'm becoming stronger. There was a time when I couldn't smell human flesh without salivating. I'm really improving. What's that?" he said, seeing her pitcher of water for the first time.

"It's for you," she said, bringing it towards him.

"Thanks," he said, taking it in two hands and dumping it over his head. She was splashed so she stepped back.

"You weren't supposed to pour it on your head," she said crossly, brushing off the wet parts of her dress.

"Wasn't I?"

"You were supposed to _drink_ it."

"Oh. I'm sorry," he said, before he shook his hair out. "I don't drink water, but that was very refreshing and I thank you," he said, putting the pitcher next to the wood pile. "I'll fill it with fresh water before I come in. It's about time to start hauling water anyway, but I'll finish this first." Then he picked up his axe.

"You don't have to work this hard for me. I'll help you haul the water this time."

"Don't," he said, his eyes becoming serious.

She knew he would respond like that, like when she offered to find him blankets. In fact, it seemed like he didn't want her doing any work at all. But, she couldn't stand by and do nothing while he slaved on her account and she loved his reaction when she offered. His hurt look, his defensive stance; she wanted to take the axe from him and chop the wood herself. That would make him really angry and she wanted to see that. So, she did it.

"Well, you go haul water then, and I'll finish chopping the wood," she said, reaching for the axe handle.

"Have you gone crazy?" he asked, stepping back from her and holding the axe as far away from her as possible.

"No. Give it to me."

He dropped the handle and put his arms around her. He was soaking wet, but the warmth of his body came through. "I refuse. I'm not taking care of you because you asked for me or because my mother would have gutted me if I hadn't accepted with pleasure. I'm doing this because I want to. Don't feel like I'm being subservient. I have never been so happy in my life."

Stella was breathless. She should be angry. Now her dress was damp and she'd have to change it, but she couldn't find the words to be wroth with him, or even to move away from him.

"I'll tell you what," he said when she didn't answer. "Tonight, I'll do something nice for you. Instead of running back to the cave when it gets dark like I normally do, I'll stay here and we'll have a party."

"A party? I've never been to a party. What'll we do?"

"I'll light a fire, we'll dance and sing. I'll bring you flowers and something pretty to wear."

"That sounds like you're adding work to yourself, because then you'll have to chop more wood to replace what we'll burn."

"That's why it's something nice for you and you'll have fun. I'll sing the song I wrote for you."

"What song is that?"

"The one you walked in on me singing, just now."

***

The fire crackled and burned in front of her. Vangalis had been working intently since their conversation at the wood pile. He chopped all the wood, hauled water, watered the sheep, brought a fish for her out of the smoke house (which he said was for their party) and then disappeared down to the cave for a few hours. Stella hardly expected him to make it back before she went to sleep, but he must have come back much sooner than she expected. It was just that she thought he would set up their fire in the fire pit in the tower; she didn't expect him to build it down on the beach.

At nightfall, he came to the tower, dressed more impressively than she had ever seen him before. Normally, he wore the simplest of woollen trousers. With no shirt, he could easily let his wings unfurl whenever necessity demanded it. When she first saw him running around with his chest bare, she thought he merely looked like an animal, but lately her feelings had softened and she thought he looked practical. When he came to take her down to the beach, he wore real clothes that covered his back and chest and shoulders and buttoned up the front. She couldn't believe it when she saw him wearing boots.

"Where did you get the clothes?" she gasped.

"Oh, nowhere. Ships crash here sometimes and so we get some of their cargo. I've brought this for you," he said, handing her a trailing garment of white spun silk. "I washed it and tried to make it smell as nice as possible. Sometimes these things get a little wet and then …"

Stella put her nose in the fabric. It smelt like windflowers. "Don't trouble yourself, Van," she said, shortening his name for the first time. "It smells fine. You'll wait while I change?"

"I'll wait," he said, looking sufficiently humble and a little red around the ears.

When Stella emerged from the tower, Vangalis was still waiting outside the front door.

"You could have come in," she said severely. "After all, this is your home. Well, it's one of them, at least. You sleep here most nights even though you go back to the cave, don't you?"

"Ah, but then I couldn't have watched the fire. I don't want it to die. I brought some of my favourite things to share with you."

Down on the beach, the stars were shining and the moon was the slimmest crescent Stella had ever seen against the navy sky. Vangalis had placed stones around the bonfire and set up sticks for cooking. He wasn't planning on eating himself, but he took great care that everything should be perfect for her. There were drums, which he pounded on and showed Stella how to do the same. She banged on them in time with him until her palms were sore.

"Now, we dance," he said, getting up and putting his hands around her waist. He brought her to her feet, and stepped away from her. His eyes were oddly excited and his feelings infected her until she could only follow his lead. "Let's clap. One, two, pause, one, two, three. One, two, pause, one, two, three. Got the rhythm? Then we stomp our feet to the beat. One, two, pause, one, two, three. Put your arms in the air. Now clap and stomp."

She did it.

Vangalis clapped his hands beside his face and stomped with her. Then he put his arms around her waist and lifted her into the air on the last beat. She was so shocked, she almost knocked him far enough off balance for him to pitch her into the sand.

"Sorry," he said, stumbling to recover himself.

"No," she laughed. "That's great. Why didn't you tell me that was what you were going to do? It's fun. Let's try it again."

"You want to try it again? Don't tell me you're actually having a good time?"

"I am. Now come on, I want to do some more."

"Good," he said, extremely pleased.

He threw her up into the air again and again. She squealed and laughed like a little girl. He should have told her that he was tired by this point, but he kept right on tossing her and teaching her new things. He showed her how to spin and how to clap hands in time with him.

As they moved, she became more at home with him and felt herself becoming increasingly attracted to him. He was so gentle when he touched her and so careful – like she was beloved. She felt his love for her in every move, in every word, and before long, she wanted to return it.

By the end of the night, she was sitting between his legs with her back against his chest while he fed her smoked fish and olives. She was so tired and that just resting with him was pure pleasure. He didn't seem to tire like she did, so he prepared the food for her and brought her water to drink. The fire crackled. Her eyelids felt so heavy and her body felt deliciously limp and fatigued.

Then he sang and the sound of it filled her ears like Heaven was falling down on her.

"Do you know what's amazing about you?" Stella said quietly when he finished. "I never would have imagined that you could be so … adorable. I mean, when I first saw you, I thought you were an animal, and now … I think you're breathtaking. How on Earth did you draw me out of my shell?"

"You're the kind of human I like the most," he said sweetly. "You don't have any thoughts to hurt anyone, do you? You would never hurt me, although my mother and sister have done you a great wrong. You're kind and you don't take your anger out on me. Before my mother left, she told me that I had to bear it if you beat me. I had to stand it even if you should murder me, but I knew I was safe. Thoughts like those don't enter the temple of your thoughts. Most people would kill rather than be killed. You're not like that are you?"

"No," Stella shuddered, resting her head against his beating heart. She wondered what else he thought about her.

"I wish I could compliment your beauty – your face and your soft curves, but I don't see them. They belong to that girl. Where is her soul now, I wonder?" Stella shifted, and he said quickly, "I'm not worrying about her. The only one I see is you and the green light that shines from your eyes. Your eyes are the hint that you're truly a goddess."

"Let's not talk anymore about that," she said, hoping to shift the mood back to the one they had while they danced.

He put a piece of fish in her mouth and she kissed his fingers before he could move away. He craned his neck around to look at her face. "Are you sure you want to do that?"

"Do what?" she feigned, letting one of her hands rest lazily on his thigh.

He cleared his throat. "My mother and her sister say that you have a husband, and that he's a God. Are you sure you want to turn me into that kind of slave?"

Stella bit he lip in aggravation. She didn't know what to say. In the space of one evening, she had changed her mind about eventually being taken to the mainland. It held no charm for her anymore. She didn't want to leave Vangalis and try to make her way in the world without him. And it wasn't because she was afraid. She wanted to live in this world that he lived in. There was so much she desired. She wanted to fall asleep in the wreath of his arms and never wake up. She wanted to crawl under his skin and feel what he felt. She wanted to sprout wings and fly into the ether with him. Or if none of that was possible, then she at least wanted him to make her his bride.

And now he was talking to her about that ridiculous idea that she was married to the god of the underworld. As time passed she became more and more convinced that the sirens had mistaken her for someone else. She'd never been in love or married. She would know something like that about herself, wouldn't she? It was ridiculous, but, if she wanted to stay safe from the sirens, then she'd better keep that little parsnip of information to herself.

Finally, she said. "I don't really remember him, so would it be all right if we just pretended he didn't exist?"

"Are you asking me to become your lover?" he asked - his voice unreadable. She couldn't tell if he was pleased by the prospect or angered by it. How could she answer?

"I guess I'm not asking for anything," she said, getting up and picking her way along the beach, back towards the tower.

"Wait," he said, chasing after her.

Stella didn't turn around. The mood had left her and now she just wanted to be alone so she could sleep. She didn't know if he followed her all the way back to the tower, because she never turned around.

***

When Stella woke up the next morning, Vangalis was lying on the stone floor at the foot of her bed. "What are you doing?" she asked, rushing to him and trying to raise him up.

"I'm sorry," he said dazedly. "Last night, I didn't mean to anger you. I just wanted things to be clear between us. If you want me to seduce you, I'll certainly do it, but I don't want to presume to do that sort of thing with a goddess without her consent."

Stella put a hand to her forehead and tried to realize what she was dealing with. This was what their relationship would be like forever if she didn't force him to accept equal terms. He would serve her forever. She made a wild grab for her courage and took the leap. "I … I'm not a goddess," she said, taking his hand and putting it over her heart above her breast. "I'm just an ordinary person. Don't you feel my heart?"

Vangalis twitched and pulled his hand away. "Fragile," he said breathlessly.

"So, why don't you just love me for what I am? I don't need a servant as much as a partner. I like living under your protection, so just stay and if you can give me a little of your heart, give it. I won't ask for it if you don't want to give in."

"I'm supposed to romance you?" he asked dubiously.

Stella sighed. How could she stand his pigheadedness? He was so slow. She got up from the floor and left the room. She couldn't stand the sight of him when he was so useless.

The next time she saw him, he was hauling water, back in his plain trousers and bare chest. He looked thin. She wished she could cook for him. As it was, she made flatbread for herself in the stone oven in the kitchen, but she couldn't share it with him. He didn't eat food … only blood.

As the days and weeks trailed into months, Vangalis and Stella talked more than they did at first. He brought her flowers from all over the island and decorated her rooms with them. Sometimes he took her out to the most exotic places they could reach; roaring waterfalls, sparkling caves, awesome heights that boasted incredible views. He also had a very careful mind for her stomach and gathered fruit for her.

They talked about everything. She talked about the void in her mind where her memories were and how the emptiness haunted her like a black ship. He talked about the horrors of his life with his mother and aunt. He was half human and he was revolted by the way they lived, but they must go on. It was their curse. He asked her once if she knew how to break it, but she shook her head sorrowfully. She had no idea.

They danced on the beach more nights, and sometimes he extended his wings and let the wind catch them. He shot up into the air like a shooting star and flew as smoothly as a swallow, even though he was a hundred times larger.

And their love moved. Slowly at first, it was almost imperceptible. Like the moon rising, it was just over the mountains.

"Don't go to bed yet. Let's talk more," he said, and they talked until she fell asleep beside him on the shore. He covered her with a blanket and kept the fire going all that night.

That moon hung on the edge of the curvature.

"Put your head in my lap and I'll feed you, like that first night."

And the moon rose to its full height when his voice swelled and said, "I want to taste you."

This was something Stella could feel coming. Sometimes he looked so starved. She'd tried to give him real food – human food – but he wretched whatever he ate in the sea. He didn't try to keep it a secret from her. He said he'd tried it before, but he could never keep anything down but blood. She'd thought about it, letting him bite her and drink her blood, but she didn't know what it would do to her. She couldn't spill her blood endlessly for him and live, could she?

"No," Stella said, pulling her wrist away from him and feeling the unbroken skin. "No. If you bite me, you'll kill me, won't you?"

"I don't know," he said quietly, averting his eyes because of his shame in mentioning the undoable. "I've never tried to keep a human alive to milk them for blood. My mother and aunt always eat anyone I drain." He paused, and wind blew through the tower. "Forgive me. I can't stop this feeling from growing. It's in my nature and I can't break from it. Perhaps you should go to the mainland where you'll be safe from me."

"No!" Stella shrieked, grabbing his arm. "I can't go to the mainland. Don't send me."

"But, Treasure," he said, touching her cheek tenderly with the back of his fingers. "You don't understand. My mother keeps me well nourished, but no matter how much I drink from her ankle, I don't stop wanting to drink from you. It'll only grow worse and worse until I end up going mad and taking what I have no right to take." He suddenly stood up. "You're going to have to let me go."

***

Time wore on like the wind and the waves. Vangalis' eyes became shadows, hollow and empty. He tried to act the same for her, but it was impossible. He went twice as often to the cave to his mother, but he grew thinner and thinner until he was compelled to wear a shirt to hide his jetting bones.

Stella tried to ignore his starvation. She ignored everything. The way he took to sleeping on the beach instead of the floor above her. He couldn't stand to be in the same building with her while she slept. He didn't trust himself.

Stella pushed it away and pushed it away until finally, her footsteps found their way to the path that led to the seashore. The sand was cold on her bare feet and she didn't disturb one blade of grass as she moved. There was a fire in the beach. Vangalis sat in front of it with his legs crossed. His drums sat beside him as well as a stack of mats and blankets. From where she stood it looked like he was playing on his flute, but she heard no music. It wasn't until she was right behind him that she saw what he was doing, and she screamed.

Turning around, his lips and chin were red with blood. His broken wrist fell to his side as he saw her.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, as twin tears trickled down his face. "I've tried so hard to be strong."

"And this is what happens to you when I refuse you?"

"No. This is what happened when your mother cursed mine. I'm sorry that I'm made this way – made this poorly – forced down this low - but I am. If I were what nature intended for me, I would be half nymph and even then I would be too low for your notice."

Stella didn't answer. She felt sick and sorry and stabbed right to her core.

"Let's go back to the tower. I'll sleep in my own bed like I'm supposed to."

They walked together. In the past they had held hands many times as they walked, but this time, like other times, they couldn't. Vangalis wouldn't. His control was slipping and his grip faltering, but he put Stella to bed and wrapped her covers around her like she was still his treasure before he slipped up the stairs to the top floor.

That day, he didn't come out of his room. She left him undisturbed until nightfall.

She opened the door and stepped into his room at the top of the tower. The Mediterranean wind blew hot through one balcony and out the other. Stella felt her heart beat. Each throb felt like it would pound her ribcage to dust. She couldn't bear this pain.

Vangalis was spreading his white angel wings and standing at the balcony that pointed north. The sun had set and the sky was filled with gold and rust. His brown hand stroked the stone doorframe.

"I love you," he said, turning for one moment to look at her.

"Don't go," she yelped. "I don't want you to go."

"Your eyes are shining, Treasure. They are so green," he replied peaceably.

Stella jumped to her feet and rushed to him. "Don't leave. I love you!" She threw herself on his back and put her arms around his shoulders. His wings smelled like the wind and the perfume of the universe. With her cheek on his back, she could feel the fury of his heart and the heat of his skin.

"Don't kill me," she whispered. "If you have to bite me, do it, but don't kill me."

He whipped around and gripped her face between his two hands. Looking desperately into her eyes, he said, "Are you sure you mean that?"

"No, I'm not sure, but I don't want to lose you," she stuttered.

Anguish filled his eyes, and his expression became tortured. "How can I devour any part of you when that is your answer?"

"I trust you," she whispered, holding his slender wrists. "Don't kill me, and let me be your love."

"You will always be my love," he said as he buried his head in the crook between her neck and shoulder. "You will always be my love." And he bit down.

Stella put her arms around him and clutched his wings. She closed her eyes and imagined he was kissing her. He was kissing her warmly, like he had kissed her thousands of times before.

Then her mind seemed to change courses and she couldn't steer it back towards the place she created to keep herself safe. Bitter feelings flooded her mind and burned her nerves. She was a lonely creature, not the girl held lovingly by Vangalis, but a great woman who was despised and rejected by those she once loved and trusted. She was always invited, yet shut out from the intimacies of the circles she used to enjoy. It was because she found herself a sacrifice on a black silk bed.

And her history as the Goddess Persephone hit her like a thunder bolt. All of this had just been a dream, an escape. Her short break to save her from the emptiness that gaped out in front of her like a chasm. There was no end to her future; no death and no freedom.

She opened her eyes and saw Vangalis, with a single tear streaking the side of his cheek. He had known what she was and loved her anyway. Not because he was fascinated by what she represented and not because he was excited by the idea of being the plaything of a formidable goddess, but because of what she was under everything everyone else always saw. He didn't care or know of the constant revulsion that followed her when she visited Olympus. He didn't care that she had been abused and broken by a cruel unwanted husband. And now what she had become a woman who was not the innocent slim child that Apollo wept over. Now her desires were clear. She wanted life to have the chance to spring up, rather than everything around her being constantly cut down. That was the view she developed of the world from Hades' palace … and from living in her own skin.

"I love you," Persephone said, looking straight into Vangalis' eyes. "I love you and I want to go on being in love with you."

He wrapped her up in his arms and wings, crushing her gently. "Thanks be to the Gods."

And the day ended with the two of them sprawled across his bed as she told him the truth about herself. She hadn't been wrong about him and his feelings for her. Nothing she could say would ruin the sweetness of his feelings for her. He was a cursed creature of sin and he couldn't look on her with distaste. She was a mistreated angel to him and he said so. Both of them were wrecked by powers beyond their control, but their need to be loved and understood wiped out all other concerns.

They belonged together.

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_Author's Notes: Thanks to the reader who reviewed today. You made me get off my can and finish this chapter that was already 90 percent finished. And thanks to everyone who reads and reviews. I love reviews. Okay, so my forum is still up in shivering wings which is accessible through my profile. I'll make a post right after this. Thanks_


	24. The First Dream Part Three

Disclaimer - I don't own Escaflowne, but it doesn't even feel like there's much Escaflowne in here anymore.

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**Chapter 24**

**The First Dream – Part 3**

Persephone stared out at the sea from the top of the tower. This place was nothing like her tower on Mount Olympus. She faced south and the sun beat down on her skin. Her skin never used to feel this way when it was hot out. She used to love heat and now it felt like she was going to fry to a crisp. She backed up and waited in the shadow.

Stella's body was both a nuisance and a comfort to Persephone once her memories were restored. It was a nuisance because it tired so easily and was frail as butterfly wings. It was a comfort because it allowed her to be with Vangalis.

Mortality was a hard bargain, especially the eating part. Food had only been for pleasure when she had been a goddess. Now she hated the sweat it formed on Vangalis' brow as he laboured to keep her well-fed. She couldn't stop him from doing it. He fished, he hauled water, he picked fruit, and he dried plants. Didn't he realize he was wasting her life? The more time he spent fussing over her diet, the less time she got to spend with him and now that she realized the precariousness of her position she knew that she may not even get to spend the remainder of Stella's lifespan with him.

Hades would find her. Her disguise wasn't good enough to fool the God of the Underworld. His specialty was finding souls and he knew the texture and taste of her soul so well. Even if she hid it in rotting human flesh, he would find her. She had to make the most of the time she had.

Besides learning about the reality of her marriage to Hades, Persephone learned several other pertinent things by regaining her memory. The most important was insight regarding the siren's curse.

She knew how to break it.

Except that she didn't think it would be possible for Raidne or Teles. Vangalis was even less qualified. She fancied calling Raidne up from the rocks to tell her what to do, even though she didn't think either of the sirens would succeed. The thing was – she didn't want to break their curse. She was still angry at Raidne and Teles for what they'd done. If she'd been feeling merciful she would have gone down to the rocks and murdered the sirens herself, but she didn't want to let them off so easily. She wanted to let them rot.

Besides, even if they broke their curse, that wouldn't do anything for her. It wouldn't change the fact that she was doomed to spend half of the rest of infinity with a god she loathed.

Hades had ruined so many things about her. Once his wife, she lost her friends on Olympus. Her time spent home with her mother was tainted and her time spent in the Underworld a violation of her dreams. Where was the virgin? That was right. She had never even seen inside the bedroom Hades kept for his wife. Because of him, she had gone straight from virgin to whore without enjoying any of the roles in between.

Now, she had finally met someone she would have put in her second bedroom in her tower on Olympus and she was too sexually abused to consider taking that step. She loved Vangalis but she was afraid to let him touch her. What if sex with Vangalis was just as painful and horrible as it had been with Hades? So, instead they kissed.

And when they kissed, her brain filled with visions as glorious and intense as Heaven. She had visions of flying with him. She saw them swimming. He embraced her like there was something about her that was sacred. He knelt before her as he did the first time. She breathed the fragrance of the sea on his skin.

And she was happy.

Even though her immortal coil had been shuffled off in favour of this disposable one, even though she had suffered the abuse of a god who would never tire of tormenting her – she had escaped for one glorious moment and in the arms of an enemy – and she was happy.

She lay down on Vangalis' bed and waited for him to join her. Today he was going down to visit his mother. When would he be back? Before nightfall? Before the sun dipped behind the mountain range? Before the room grew dark orange? Before her pulse beat ten times? Five times? Now? Would he come this very second?

Just then, there was the sound of feet alighting upon the north balcony. Persephone almost leapt from the bed when a figure entered the room and it was not who she was expecting.

White hair blew in strands against his pale face and parted to show scarlet eyes.

Persephone just stared. Hades had found her so quickly. He would know if she lied to him, so no matter how their conversation went - she had to stay truthful.

"Wife," he said darkly. "You're breaking your contract with me."

"I was tired of staining my arms black doing your dirty work," she said. Stella's voice sounded weak and counterfeit when placed next to the God of the Underworld's rich tones.

"You break my heart," he said, approaching her in full battle armour. He carried his helmet in his arms and the length of his snow-white hair fell against his black breastplate.

"You broke my spirit," she retorted.

"Apparently not, if you have the impudence to run away," he said as he examined her current form. "You're not beautiful like that."

"I don't care," she mouthed, tears coming to her eyes. Now that he had found her she didn't know what was to be done. What was he going to do? If he raped her in her current form, she would be better off to commit suicide before he could touch her. At least then she could go back to being Persephone and her goddess body would be better at taking his abuse.

"But you're a virgin again," he murmured. "How interesting! Do you – the Goddess of Fertility – really want to live like that? A virgin? Untouched?"

"Don't come near me!" she hissed, getting to her feet. Her knees wobbled, but she pushed herself up and inched her way to the second balcony. She was thinking of tossing herself over if the need arose.

"I won't if you don't want me to. I know how delicate you are in that state. I want to talk to you. All these years we've been together, did my feelings for you not get through to you?"

"Your feelings? The only feelings of yours I know are hate and revenge. I know you wanted me to be hungry for power. I know you wanted our partnership to be the greatest alliance in history, but I never lived up to your ambition. You hate me," she said, grabbing the doorframe in order to steady herself.

"You think I hate you?" he said quietly.

"What else could you feel? You don't treat me like your wife. You don't even treat me like a goddess. You use me. You use me any way that suits you, and I'm not half strong enough to counter you."

"So, I've driven you to this? I've driven you to seek comfort out of my realm in a body that dies more every moment you live in it?"

The sun fell behind the tip of the mountain. The day was going to end and Vangalis was going to return to this.

"I have not been cruel to you," he said fiercely, the anger of a god compounding in his chest. "I originally sought your hand through the proper channels, but your meddling mother condemned our union. What else was I to do? I didn't want anyone else but you."

"You stole me away from my home and robbed me of my innocent in the most spiteful way. How can you say you haven't been cruel to me?"

He exhaled heavily and yellow vapour escaped between his lips. "I still maintain that there was no other way to achieve you. If I had waited to consummate our marriage, Apollo would have been down to get you. Then everything would have been in vain. The way I acted could not have been helped."

"And what about since then?" she wept, falling to her knees. "What do you say to justify your unkindness since then?"

"I have been kind to you," he breathed, his breath becoming orange. "I admit I have been frustrated with you. Why can't you forgive me for those first crimes I was forced to commit? I have tried in so many ways to entice you to open your heart to me, but you are unmoved."

She didn't answer. She couldn't. His attempts at tenderness tasted the same as his first crimes.

"You don't want to forgive me," he said as though he comprehended it for the first time and the knowledge deflated him. His breath turned white. "You _want_ to leave me."

Her tears came like a waterfall as she fell on her face at his feet. "Please, My Lord, let me go."

"I can't," came his stiff reply.

"I know you can't let me go forever, but can you let me live here until this body dies? It would be the first tenderness I asked of you since the moment you dropped those seeds between my lips. I beg you!" Her fingers rested on his sandals. This was the first time she had voluntarily touched him.

His shoulders fell. "What would you do with your time here?"

At that exact moment, Vangalis landed on the north balcony.

The room turned dark orange.

Hades turned and saw the half-siren.

Through Persephone's tears she saw Vangalis' wings retract. He didn't speak, but dropped to his knees to mimic her. She didn't need to tell him who her visitor was. It could only be one person.

Hades kicked off Persephone's fingers. "If this is what you plan to do," he said, indicating Vangalis and drawing his sword. He used the flat of it to raise Vangalis' chin. "Then why haven't you done it already?"

"My Lord?" Vangalis asked vacantly. It was clear that he had no idea what they were talking about before he entered.  
"Silence. I spoke to My Lady." He paused and turned to her. "Persephone, answer me."

"You misjudge me. I am not the same as those red-blooded gods on Olympus who find pleasure in making conquests of mortals. I would die as I am now – a virgin."

"I believe you," he said resting the point of his blade above Vangalis' heart. They both knew he would see through her lies. "So, what do you want with this … prince?"

"He has been helping me by providing me with food," she answered, stretching the truth as far as she dared. "You know who he is?"

"Of course I do. He owes you a debt larger than he is paying. Though I don't want you to use him as your plaything, you must do something else to him to show your anger and resentment towards his mother." Hades removed his sword and used his free hand to help Persephone to her feet.

"Such as? Isn't it enough that he labour for me all my life?"

"It would be, except that I know your wrath towards his mother. Does she still live or have you stopped her heart?"

"She lives. I was not kind enough to kill her."

"And you think I'm resentful towards you? Your scorn is immortal," he said, his breath becoming black like the walls of his palace in the Underworld. He placed the handle of his sword in her wet palms. "I'll make you a bargain. If you can cut him, I'll allow you to live here all the natural days of your life."

Persephone didn't dare to ask what would happen if she didn't. She flexed her fingers around the handle and looked at Vangalis. He kept his head down and knelt as though he expected her to sever his head. She knew what this moment meant to him. He would allow her to cut him without even letting her see his eyes for fear that his expression would give her reason to pause. He wanted her to do it confidently – like his life meant nothing to her. That was the only way that could stay together.

She smacked her lips. They were cracked. "I won't sever anything," she said. "I would hate to see a mutilated man serving me for the rest of my life. It would be too pathetic."

"So be it," Hades agreed, crossing his arms and waiting for her strike.

She judged the shoulder to be the best place to pierce him and straightway dealt the strike. Vangalis did not move or cry out. He took it bravely and as she drew out the point, he braced himself as though he expected another one.

"Are you satisfied?" she asked, wiping the blood on the hem of her dress.

Hades didn't answer, but seemed to be thinking of something carefully. He took the sword from her and sheathed it. "I am not satisfied, but you have fulfilled your half of the bargain. I will let you live here as long as you like in that body." Then he went to the balcony door. "We will meet again," he said before he disappeared in a cloud of black fog.

Persephone ran to the balcony and watched as his form disappeared into the ether. When she was convinced that no part of him lingered, she ran to Vangalis' side.

"Thank you," she muttered. "I tried not to do it deep. Will you survive?"

"More than that," he said, his eyes filling with humour.

"You were so strong," she commended.

"I thought you were the one that was strong. I know how afraid you are of him. You were valiant."

She retrieved some clean cloth and tied his wound. "Will it take long to heal?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said as the fabric absorbed his blood. "I'm already better. I have been given permission by your husband to live by your side for the rest of your life. I'm in Heaven. This is Heaven." He leaned forwards and kissed her lips.

She kissed him back and to her surprise and wonder, he lifted her off the floor with his bad arm and carried her to his bed.

Darkness spread across the land. The last remaining sparkles of the sun's rays had dimmed on the water and the stars began to shine like coins flung in a pool. The night had come and Vangalis lay in her arms despite her meeting with her unwanted husband.

Vangalis' kisses tasted like hot rain and his mouth worshipped hers in the true fashion of love-making - the one she wasn't familiar with.

What time passed between their first kiss and the arrow that whizzed over Vangalis' head, Persephone knew not. She didn't know what attacked them. Exerting great effort she roused herself from the bed and rushed to the balcony. Swarming the tower flew the army of the Underworld. She knew them as her eyes scanned the horizon. She knew parts of them. She knew their howls and the sounds of their discontented scratching, but she had never seen them in full array like this. The archers flew on black wings with arrows pulled at the ready. When Persephone filled the doorway, they stayed their hands, but only temporarily. One corrected his aim. An arrow flew past her ear and stuck the bedspread where Vangalis had lain.

"They're here for you," Persephone yelled. "You have to hide."

"No," he said, his courage coming to bear even more than when she had spilt his blood. His expression was fathomless. "I'll fight them."

"You'll die," she yelled, spreading her arms across the entryway to stop them from shooting.

"Then I'll die, but I won't do you the same wrong my mother did." Vangalis pulled two twin swords from under his mattress and spread out his wings to battle his foe across the skies while Persephone stood, clenching her dress and fearing the outcome. He went out and began to cut down the line of archers. Ribbons of his blood streamed across the sky as he took minor cuts.

Then Persephone saw him. At the end of the line of archers, flying dogs, and ancient warlords - she saw him – Hades. He rode on Cerberus' back and was watching the battle from the top of a hill. She could see the glint of his hard red eyes even from that distance.

Hades had seen their secret kisses. That was why he retreated temporarily – to spy on them. She had broken no promise. Adultery was not one of her sins. Forbidden love on the other hand was definitely one of her vices and she was being punished for it now.

Now she understood. Hades was willing to let her live here for as long as she wished. There was no expiry date to the bargain, just so long as she didn't live with any man – she was free. It didn't matter to Hades if she dallied with Vangalis sexually or only harboured feeling for him – either way was just as bad.

What if she agreed to go back to the Underworld with him now? Would he forgive her and save Vangalis' life? Now he had leverage with her and he would use it.

That was what he was waiting for. That was what that demon was doing sitting watching the battle with such an easy spirit. His forces could have easily overpowered one half-siren. He was waiting for Persephone's will to crack. He was waiting for her to fall at his feet and beg him to call them off.

Persephone was paralyzed. How could she end her one act of defiance by giving him victory on the second move?  
From across the valley, Hades gave her a look. She knew that look. It said, "Make up your mind, or I'll make it up for you."

Her mind worked furiously. On the other hand, how could she let the only man she'd ever loved die so easily?

Time was up and she hadn't answered him.

Hades was done waiting. He put his hand up in the air to call off his goons and they all fled from Vangalis like scattering spiders.

Vangalis held his position in the air, his swords drooping in his clenched fists. His one shoulder had been damaged before they began and that arm had taken a couple horrible hits. It was a wonder he could still hold his weapon with that arm. Blood fell in red strings across his bare chest and in stark contrast on his white wings. He'd taken nicks everywhere. Worst of all was his eye. One of his eyes had been gouged.

Persephone's lips quivered in terror and her breath became ragged as she looked upon him.

Hades pulled his bow from his shoulder and notched an arrow. There was no way he'd miss.

"Van!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "Come here!"

He shook his head no and spread his wings as if he was going to charge Hades.

"Van! Come to me!" she tried again.

Hades arrow flew true and struck Vangalis in the heart.

Persephone screamed.

Hades lowered his commanding arm and his army horded around Vangalis. New arrows struck home, fangs found his throat, his wings rent from his back, and knives pierced his flesh, until Hades called them off. Their last order was to drop his mutilated corpse on the balcony in front of Persephone.

A muscle in her chin twitched. For a moment she dared not look down. There was a warm wet wind blowing across her face and down the sweaty expanse of her chest. She lowered herself to her knees on the stone balcony and kept her eyes to the sky. She looked out onto the sea and the starry night sky. Reaching out, she touched her love and felt the hot wetness of his lifeblood. Closing her eyes, she felt his body with her hands until she found his mouth. Kissing him, she tasted the blood he had choked on. Now her hands and lips were drenched in blood and red swollen tears streamed down her cheeks freely.

Opening her eyes, she forced herself to take responsibility for what had just happened. What had he hoped for? Was he hoping to undo his mother's curse? She was dizzy and she didn't care what he wanted. He had died because of her. He had died _for_ her.

His blood splashed and staining the dark stones of the balcony. He was practically hacked to bits in front of her. He was missing fingers and there was Hades' arrow through his shoulder and two knives protruding from his chest.

Seeing him this defaced, her lip trembled and the anger that boiled in her system could not be quenched. Those bastards! Damn them! Damn everyone! She knew what to do. She was not the Goddess of the Underworld for nothing. She had come to this world for freedom and revenge – not to be stomped down in this fashion. No matter how Hades thought he had ended her escapade she wouldn't let him end it with him conqueror. She would not surrender. The battle would go on, and she knew who the next victim would be.

She wrenched one of the knives from Van's chest free and heard one of his ribs crack in the process. Bending down, she kissed the bloody gash.

"I love you so much," she whined, her voice broken. "You can't die like this. I'll give you a different ending."

With that, she took the knife and put it to her own throat, slitting it with such violence that she managed to drag the blade all the way to the other side.

The last thing Persephone heard before she entered the Underworld was a howl. Hades had not expected that and now he was so angry he was screaming himself hoarse.

***

Persephone arrived in the Underworld within the blink of an eye and woke up where she had laid her body – in bed. She knew it wouldn't take a moment. Her body yearned for her spirit and called out to her each second they were separated.

She hadn't a moment to lose. Swinging her feet to the floor, she reached for the bottle on her dressing table – the one that housed Stella's soul. The bottoms of her slippers resounded on the marble as she bolted through Hades' palace to the entrance.

She had to find Vangalis' soul. He would be wandering and she had to beat Hades to him. If she was slow he would send Van to the tenth level of Tartarus for sure.

Rushing to the mouth of the Acheron, she leaped into Charon's waiting boat and ordered him to cast off.

"Money," he said, pushing out his hand.

"What do you need money for, you stupid ghoul," she shouted. "You spend eternity here running up and down the river as a slave. Why do you need money?"

"I just do," he said turning his head away and extending his open palm to her again.

"Why?" she questioned, slamming her body on the floor of the boat and ripping the slippers from her feet. "The way you always demand payment is starting to make me feel like I should keep a coin under my tongue, and I'm the blasted Goddess of the Underworld."

"It would be a wise idea," he said as he picked several gem stones off the toes and heels of the slippers.

"Get moving! I have no time to banter and barter with you. I have to find a soul before Hades."

Charon seemed not to have heard her as he pocketed the rest of the jewels. He tossed the slippers back at her and took the oar with an experienced hand. "If you tell me the soul's name, I'll find it for you, but I won't give you a ride back unless you pay me again."

"Done," she said, knowing full well that she didn't have anything else of value on her person. "Vangalis."

"Arrow to the heart," he said, pointing to the far shore. "I'll take you there." And for once Charon seemed to be putting some effort into his job. He moved the oar like Persephone had never seen. The water parted in huge waves behind them and the sparkling lost souls on the banks were immersed in the grey water. They raced down the river like they soared on wings.

At the far end of the banks, the lost souls gathered together in huge groups. How were they going to find Vangalis in this mess?

"He was murdered by Hades himself, so his soul will take on a red tinge. You'll have to find him yourself because I cannot leave the boat. Because you're a goddess it's all right if you want to wade in the water." Then he took a deep breath as though their journey had tired him. "Get out. I need to load up the paying souls and ferry them."

"Thank you," she said, jumping out of the boat into the slippery water. She steadied herself with one hand on the lip of the boat, but she still lost one of her shoes straight off.

Then Charon laughed. It was a deep laugh rather like a chuckle and it was the first sign of a personality she had ever witnessed in the ferryman. "Hades would never imagine that you would do this. To him, it's like going through raw sewage. He won't come here or find you. But when you do come back to the palace – I recommend you go straight into the bath and leave that bottle somewhere along the way. If you keep it with you – he'll take it from you."

"You know your master well," she commented, letting go of the boat and preparing to go on her own.

"I know how he feels for you well."

"Do you think I'm ungrateful?" she asked haughtily.

"I wouldn't help you if I thought that." The he cast away from the shore and left Persephone to search for the red freckle among thousands of blue ones.

***

She was a goddess. This shouldn't have taken any time at all. She should have just looked across the banks of lights and seen the red one, but she didn't. She measured the time. It had been one hour since she began – one whole hour. That was when her frustration peaked.

Uncorking the bottle, she spoke to Stella, "All right, Stella. I'm looking for your family now. You have to help me find them, but you can't come out of the bottle. If you do, your soul will naturally begin wandering."

"How do I help you look, if I can't get out of the bottle?" Stella whined.

"Tell me their names and I'll attach a spell that will turn their spirit bodies gold." It was the exact same spell Charon had done when he dropped her off. She only needed to see it done once for her to replicate it.

Stella told her their names and Persephone replaced the cork. It wasn't that she was particularly interested in finding Stella's family, but she did make a promise and if Despite Charon's belief that Hades wouldn't appear here. Persephone wasn't sure and she had to make up a story. If he found her here, she now had a reason to be pawing through the ranks of the lost dead. Stella gave her eleven names. Maybe she'd have more success looking for twelve people than one.

She was right. She found three members of Stella's family within minutes. Behind a rock, she found two more huddled together. Why was it so hard to find Vangalis? She found gold coloured souls each way she turned, but the scarlet one she sought was nowhere.

Finally, when she had gathered up all eleven of Stella's family, she turned to rest on the bank. Her feet hung in the water and her mind was filled with desolate thoughts. Maybe Hades had guessed her plan and sealed his soul immediately after Vangalis' death. She plopped the glass bottle beside her and raked her fingers through her hair in frustration. It didn't matter what moves she made across the chess board, Hades was always ahead of her. He always knew how to protect his flank.

Persephone twitched. Something was crawling in her ear. She brushed it away. It came back. She slapped it away. Did insects live in this cave?

It buzzed in a third time and she caught it in her hand. It was her red light – Vangalis.

"Darling," she cried. "Thank Heaven I found you."

"You didn't find me," his sorrowful voice murmured. "I have been following you."

"Have you?"

"I've been on your back almost the whole time. You wouldn't turn around. Thank you for searching for me so carefully."

"How did you know it was me? I look so different now."

"I'd love you in any shape you took, and your eyes are always green. Persephone," he asked in a low voice. "What's going to happen to me now? Hades will certainly send me to Hell."

"I won't let him send you to Tartarus. I have a plan. You are going to be born again. I'm going to take you back to your mother."

Persephone eased Vangalis' soul in the bottle with Stella and her family and then she hunted around the bottom of the Acharon until she found her missing slipper. She put it on her feet and drenched to the bone, she started down the road to the clouds, where she would alight in front of the cave where Raidne and Teles lived. She needed to have a talk with them about how to finish their curse and how to set her free.

***

In all the time that Persephone lived on the island, she never once went to the cave where the sirens lived. It was none of her business. They disgusted her. Vangalis didn't need her accompaniment.

Now that she was there, she was startled by the looks of things. They lived in a cave that had been hollowed out of the side of a cliff and even though it was damp beyond the tolerance of most humans – it was an incredibly beautiful place. Inside, the water from the sea ran in a river that rose and fell with the tide, leaving some crevices or rooms available at certain times of the day and others either too high to be reached or flooded. There were bridges that crossed the river and torches that lit the rooms decked in treasures scavenged from wrecked vessels.

Persephone made her way through the rooms and corridors, holding her bottle in one hand while she pinched her nose the other. It smelt rank. No one else would have noticed anything other than the smells of sea salt and the mess that always came with the ocean, but she smelt nothing but the servants who betrayed her.

The sirens were in the furthest chamber from the entrance. It didn't get flooded with high tide and it was the only room that had a door on it.

Persephone grabbed the iron ring they used for a door handle and swung the door open without knocking.

Raidne and Teles saw her enter and nearly fainted for shame. Well, they should have felt most sorrowful being caught feasting on Stella and Vangalis' dead bodies by Persephone herself.

Persephone turned her head in revolt while the sirens prostrated themselves before her shrieking apologies.

"I don't care," she said after she'd heard sufficient whimpering. "You're cursed and wretched, so you're compelled to behave without conscience or manners. It's not as if you killed us. Raidne, answer me something – how many children have you birthed all these years?"

"Three," she answered. "Vangalis was the first boy."

"Do you like raising children?" Persephone asked coldly.

"I would like it better if I were not a siren," she replied miserably, her jagged teeth looked sharper than ever.

"Well, I have a task for you. Fetch me a bottle."

Raidne ran and got one immediately.

The goddess took it in her hands. She didn't want this interview to last any longer than it had to. The sight of Stella and Vangalis' corpses made her feel infinitely sickened and saddened at the same time.

She set the two bottles on the table and uncorked the one with Vangalis' soul in it. She grasped the red flicker that was his spirit out and trapped it in Raidne's bottle before it could be pulled back to the Underworld.

"Listen to me. I hate you both, but I will tell you how to break your curse."

"How?" they begged, laying flat on their faces.

"First, Raidne, you must give birth to this child again. Each time you birth him, you must mark the number of times on his throat."

"I'll have to do it more than once?" Raidne asked timidly.

Persephone snapped. "You'll do it as many times as it takes for you to get the combination right. He must be an adequate tool for me to use. If you fail – he'll die. He'll die over and over again until you get it right. Prepare yourselves. You sent me through Hell – you won't clear your names until you walk the path I have trod and doubled back again."

* * *

_Author's Notes: Okay Kids. News! I am making this story active again and hopefully be updating every Thursday until it's finished. Not Thursday in two days, but hopefully I'll have another chapter for you next Thursday. There will be a new thread open on my forum 'Shivering Wings' in a minute (that's accessable through my profile). And thanks to everyone who is still reading and hopefully enjoying this story. Thanks to everyone who sends me a line. I love reviews._


	25. The Second Dream

_Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne, but like I said, there's not that much of it here._

* * *

**Chapter 25**

**The Second Dream**

Van chased through the city with Dilandau hard on his tail for over an hour. Folken's Jaguar was seriously dented after numerous hits and Dilandau's perpetual tail-gating. Van didn't care. He knew Folken wouldn't care. Nothing mattered if he was going to save Persephone. All their possessions were disposable.

She lay in the backseat in Hitomi's body. Sometimes she trembled, sometimes she muttered half sentences in her sleep like, "Go chop wood," or, "Staining my arms." Van could only guess that her lives were coming back to her – everything she knew she was missing.

He had to lose Dilandau. Checking his rear-view mirror, he saw Dilandau's headlights. How big was the monster's gas tank anyway? Well, it didn't matter. Van had had enough of this and he was ready to call off the chase. He had been trying to figure out alternative ways to lose him, but all of them were crap.

Finally he was heading down a road that either disappeared into a tunnel or ran over the river. He had to get Dilandau to head over the bridge. Traffic would be slower and if a few cars got behind him he would be forced across the narrow bridge without any hope of escaping until he got to the other side. After the tunnel, the road opened up to three lanes where the speed limit was higher and the cars fewer.

Van headed towards the bridge. Dilandau was one car behind him and the traffic dense. Van waited until the very last second before he made a sharp turn onto an on-ramp and then over a meridian to land with a clatter so he slid into the tunnel. Then he sped up like a demon, but his plan was not to fly like a bat out of Hell. Instead, he needed to evade Dilandau's notice and slip into a tiny residential area that lay like a pocket in one of the folds of the river.

It might not work, but a dozen things had already failed. Van took an exit the size of a pea-pod, found a rare parking spot in front of someone's house and cut the engine.

Then he turned around and waited for Dilandau to appear out of the tunnel.

One second.

Eight seconds.

Twenty-three seconds.

Forty-two seconds.

One of his headlights was damaged, so he was easy to spot. Van watched as his opponent flew down the road and left him happily in the dust. That was lucky. The devil didn't know how far ahead of him Van got, so he drove as fast as he could to make up the time.

Van exhaled a heavy sigh of relief. That was it.

He put his car in reverse and put its tires back on the road. Then he headed back downtown. He needed a place to go that had underground valet parking and the only place he could think of that offered that was one of the huge skyscrapers that boasted the most fabulous hotels.

But even still, as he obeyed the traffic laws and tried to keep as out of sight as much as possible, he couldn't relax. The police had followed them once or twice during their escapade, but it wasn't the policy of the police in this city to participate in car chases. They just picked up the pieces afterwards. There would either be fifty speeding tickets waiting for him in the mailbox at home or he would end up in jail.

He shuddered. He had to get them out of this car.

On the U-shaped drive outside of the hotel, Van explained to the valet that his girlfriend had too much to drink and hefted her into the lobby.

The hotel staff didn't look too startled by her appearance, except that she didn't smell drunk – she smelt normal. However, she clung to him with what little strength she had and mumbled his name, so they didn't ask any questions.

Once in the room, he laid her out on the bed and looked at her face. She shook her head restlessly for awhile. He stroked the side of her face and tried to get her to calm down. She grabbed his fingers and kissed them.

His face fell.

All his life he had been told that he was the consort/plaything of the Goddess Persephone. It was a fact his mother had told him since he was born. He knew it was true because he had memories of his last life. Apparently, there was another life before that one, but he didn't remember it. He thought he remembered a bonfire and dancing, but he couldn't be sure. Raidne filled him in on the details since she knew all about it. He had told her at the time, it seemed. Van thought this strange. He certainly didn't think of his mother as a confidant in this life.

Then there was his second life. Van remembered that better. The second time he was born, Persephone didn't steal a body. She came to meet him in all her glory with tangles of red hair blowing in the breeze.

Those memories were dearer to him, though not binding. He remembered the passage of events with some clarity, but it felt like a dream and not like his real experiences.

The truth was that in this third life he didn't believe he would fall in love with Persephone – no matter what his mother told him. She said that he would love her on sight. Perhaps he would have believed her if the prophetess telling him such holy things were not his blood soaked mother who lived on a diet of dead men's flesh. How could she know about anything as divine as his love?

Van had certainly been attracted to women before he met Hitomi, but he always knew that his feelings were laced with a desire to feed off them – thus he was disgusted and clung mostly to Merle for friendship. But when he saw Hitomi, he felt powerless – absolutely powerless. She was a baby. She was beautiful, but not in her face or figure as much as other women he'd seen. He couldn't figure out why he wanted to be near her so badly. If he stayed with her, he would turn her into a shell.

Now he knew. It was because Persephone's soul was there that his heart ached so. It was because his spirit recognized hers and all his past emotional wounds were unbound. It turned out that they were still fresh. A new body hadn't helped a thing.

Except at the time, his comparisons with the red haired goddess and Hitomi didn't parallel each other at all.

Hitomi was innocent.

Persephone was exacting and cruel, except for a soft spot that she saved for him.

***

In his second life, he had been a child-siren. His mother told him that he was growing up so he could be the consort of a goddess who already had a husband. He hadn't liked it, but he had nothing else.

Once when he was fifteen, he told his mother that he wouldn't do as she wanted. She had responded with fury. "If you won't go to her, you're of no value to anyone and I'll kill you now." She had knocked him against the wall and moved to bite him.

He knew she did not jest with him when she threatened to murder him. He had hid his face from enough gore to know she should be taken at her word. "I'll go," he screamed before she broke his flesh. Even if he went to The Goddess of the Underworld as a slave, it would be better than living forever with his mother.

He was told to go to a certain mountain the year he was twenty-one. There he would be carried on the back of a fey horse to the place where he would meet Persephone. His mother dressed him carefully in the best clothes she had stolen from dead men. She clasped her fingers together and leaned over to give him a boost onto the white horse.

"Spread your wings out when you see her. She loved to fly with you."

Van had frowned and told the horse they could go. He was too nervous to be reasoned with. This was what he was born for – to be toyed with by a goddess. He felt sick. During all the times his mother spoke to him of his purpose, she had never said anything about what Persephone looked like except that she had green eyes. Green was the colour of life, but what could she know? She was The Goddess of the Underworld.

When he was a child, he had built up an idea of what she would be like and even when he became a man – the image did not dissipate. He was frightened of her. In his mind, her hair was oily black and stringy, running down to her knees. Her face was long and pasty. Spiders and mice lived in her clothing. Her skin would greasy to his touch, and he would have to touch her. Then he gagged.

If she wasn't like that, then why didn't she have lines of men waiting to bed her?

So the stallion brought him to the back doors of Hades' palace and Van spread out his wings to await Persephone.

He told himself this would only last six months at the most. Then she would be called back to the Underworld and he would be free – for at least six months. He hoped she tired of him quickly.

But then the doors were flung open and a young woman burst forth from them. She threw her shoes up in the air and fell back on the grass, laughing up at the clouds. Her red hair curled and fell in gorgeous waves around her face.

Van was speechless.

This was The Goddess of the Underworld? No, this was The Goddess of Fertility.

He was a siren so he sung almost always, just for the beauty of it, but he had never heard anything as beautiful as the song in his heart as she looked up at him. She was smiling and the delight on her face made him feel unworthy. Why should he have this pleasure? It was forbidden love. His last self had been hacked to bits by the army of the Underworld.

Well, it wouldn't happen this time. Van's chest filled with confidence. He wouldn't let it happen this time.

He spread his wings as proudly as he could and walked with grace to offer the Goddess Persephone a hand in rising.

She took it and flew into his arms. Van couldn't find his voice. She was so different than what he imagined. She was short. Her head tucked in right under his shoulder, and the perfume of her hair was intoxicating. He was losing his senses.

"We need to go," she prompted him. "I have a place we can go." She mounted the stallion and put him behind her. Telling him to tuck in his wings, they raced across the skyline.

Van didn't know how long they travelled. It was a blur of happiness for he held onto her waist and nestled his face in her hair. Finally, they alighted outside a cave not unlike his old home.

"What are we doing here?" he asked.

"I made this place especially for you, for when you came to see me," she said holding out her hand. "I'm sure you'll be able to make the journey," she said sweetly. Then she pushed him into the water.

Van surfaced, unsure how to take this playful side to her nature. He hadn't wanted to be drenched when he was dressed so well. Sirens were not water creatures even though they lived by water. They were creatures of the air.

She was laughing as she jumped in after him. "Take a deep breath," she said grabbing his shoulders and dunking him.

Under the water, she took his hand and together they swam through the coral and rocks to an underwater palace. Van ran out of air more than once and Persephone kissed him and blew new air in his mouth. He tried to hold onto her to extend the kiss, but she hurried him on. He held her hand as they made their way deeper and deeper into the water. When they came to the end of their journey, it was almost black. They had to swim under a huge rock and then up to get to the entryway. There was a pocket of air and a room that was bare, except for the pool they emerged from and a landing with two large carved doors.

When they stood on the landing, Persephone rung the water from her dress and pulled open the doors. "Give me a moment," she said, closing them behind her.

Van stood dripping on the tile, feeling rather foolish. None of this was turning out how he expected. He wasn't supposed to love her, yet every moment that they were separated by that door was agony.

Only a minute later when she opened it to let him in, she looked completely different. Her hair was dry and she was dressed, having discarded the white dress she wore before. This time she wore a gown of orange flame with long tight sleeves and a square neckline. There was amber shining in her hair and she brought a brown tapestry robe that she hung on his shoulders.

"I love you," he said suddenly, surprised at the sound of his own voice.

Her expression was lonely. "Come inside," she invited, drawing him through the doors.

The palace inside was everything it ought to have been. The floor glistened with mother-of-pearl triangle tiles and the walls were hewn out of black rock – jagged and sharp. Even though the palace was decorated with an ocean theme, the rooms they entered were not cold. Actually, it was like home, except there had never been blood spilt here. He liked it.

Persephone led him to a bedroom decorated in tan, like the sand of the sea. She told him to get cleaned up. There were plenty of clothes for him in the wardrobe and she would wait outside for him.

So, he took care dressing. He wanted to please her.

When he returned to the first room, the blinds were drawn and Persephone was looking out into the ocean. There was a bale of turtles swimming by. She was pacing. Her shoes clacked on the tiles.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I'm afraid," she admitted, biting her red bottom lip.

"Of what?"

She sighed. "You're going to die."

"You don't know that," he contradicted softly.

"No, you are," she said. Her beautiful lips quivered. "We must make the most out of this time and not waste it."

She touched his shoulder and looked at him as gravely as if he were already dead. He didn't understand it. Did she have second sight? Well, he wouldn't die!

"Well, what am I to do?" he asked.

"Are you hungry?" she said extending her wrist. "You can have a drink if you want to."

Actually, he was not hungry. His mother had seen to it that he was well fed before he left home.

He evaded the question and asked, "Aren't I your lover?"

She winced. "I'm sorry. I don't want to form that bond since our love is hopeless. I'll live with the pain of remembering just your arms around me for who knows how long without relief. Let's not make memories too intense for me to live with after you are gone."

"Why do you keep saying I'm going to die?" he asked, his voice rising. "I'm not. I'm young. I'm healthy and sirens never die. My mother has already lived over a thousand years. Why do you keep saying this?"

"Because it's true, but I must see your strength. Bite me!" she insisted, extending her arm and pulling up her beautiful sleeve.

He recoiled. He did not want to break her flesh if it was not necessary.

"Bite me! I want to see how much power she gave you."

"I don't want to bite you. You're too precious. I want to kiss you."

Persephone pushed her sleeve down. "You don't understand our situation right now. Sit down with me and I will explain something."

He sat down and she took his hand in hers. She began by touching his skin lightly then she kissed his palm. "I know you're brave. I know you would die for me. You already have. You don't have to prove it. I would prefer it if you didn't."

Now she was talking sense.

"There's no way we can be successful this time," she continued. "We will have to wait for you to be reborn a third time."

Van didn't understand why she was so hopeless. What would be different the next time? He was frustrated and he didn't understand. He had been told he was her lover, but now he felt like he was rejected when this was his birthright. And he wanted her so badly, his body hurt.

"Be patient," she said softly as she pulled his head into her lap and stroked his hair. "We'll succeed next time."

He didn't believe her.

***

Perhaps he wouldn't have died if he had taken her warning seriously, but at the time he couldn't stand the limbo his life hung in while he lived in Persephone's palace. He forgot completely of the struggles he endured while living with the sirens and instead this life he lived now was what felt unbearable.

He was not allowed to sleep in Persephone's bed chamber. She had her reasons. Most often she said that gods and goddesses who committed adultery tended to be caught in the act and she did not want anyone to see them – least of all Hades – who she feared would appear at any moment.

Van was not her equal.

She treated him like he was a butterfly in a bottle. He would die, so she had to enjoy his beauty while she could.

This was proven when he tried to bite her for the first time. His fangs were like daggers and though he evaded biting his own tongue and cheeks with them, a human was nearly cut to ribbons when he applied them. He knew this, so he bit softly. He expected to break the flesh. He didn't. When he put all his effort into it, he could draw a tiny portion, but she would quickly heal.

She told him that this was the difference between them. She said that if he were immortal, he would have been able to break her skin and make the blood flow, but none of the sirens were. They were merely spared from death.

After that, she drew her blood for him, using her own blunt teeth to break the skin.

His ego stung. He thought he was a ferocious beast – a cursed prince – but when he stood up next to Persephone, he was nothing.

He asked her how she planned to break the sirens curse and her own marriage contract, but she hushed him.

"If anyone heard of our plan, it would be stopped. I don't dare tell you … since you're going to die."

Van raked at his hair in fury. He hated this life. He hated the mystery. He was a key player, yet he didn't know his role. Well, maybe he did – he was the pawn – the slave – and not one thing in his life was turning out a way he could stomach.

***

Persephone was expected in Olympus during her six months out of the Underworld, so she often went to the Heavens without Van and stayed there for days on end.

"Have you seen Hades on Olympus when you've been gone?" Van asked anxiously when she came back.

"Yes."

"What does he say?"

"Nothing. It's maddening. He knows your soul went missing because it never came to judgement, but I believe he suspects that Zeus has it. My father has been pulling a string for me, but not the one he thinks."

"What? I didn't know your father still cared for you."

"Oh, that's right. Sorry, I forget that your mind is not as clear as mine. Zeus promised me that he would not forget me. He gave me two gifts. The first one was that it wouldn't matter how much food I ate in the Underworld, it would no longer condemn me. Secondly, he gave me a favour."

"Did you ask him to release you from your obligation to Hades?"

"He can't do that. Even though Zeus rules the Heavens, he cannot command anything in the Underworld – including me. Nor can he anger his brother. Besides, Hades powers are not like Zeus'. Father would shrink if Hades rose against him. You see, all that lives must die and death is eternal … sometimes."

"So, what has Zeus done for you?" Van asked hesitantly.

"He added another layer to your mother's curse."

"What?" Van almost screeched. Wasn't his family already as low as they could get?

"Don't agitate yourself," Persephone said leaning back on her dais and fanning the incense she was burning towards her.

Van didn't understand. How could she be so beautiful and holy and so cruel at the same time?

"He stopped Hades from murdering them all."

"What?" Van breathed, lowering himself in front of her.

"He tried after you died, but for once his movements were slower than mine. I had already arranged it. You see, your darling mother is a part of my plan. I could not allow Hades to kill her when she still has a role to play. For all intents and purposes, she is the one who will have to break your curse. Your part is merely the crowning glory of her accomplishment. However, she failed this time and you will die as a consequence of it."

"I don't understand."

When Persephone answered, she was not vexed or impatient. Her voice was like the mist on the mountains – full and poignant. "Zeus put a seal of temporary immortality on Raidne and Teles. It will be removed when I bid him, but it's false and provides no comfort. They still suffer like the damned … as they should."

Van knew how they suffered better than anyone. Their curse was so heavy, he could not think of it without pain – even when he was removed from the situation.

***

He could have lived there with Persephone for who knew how many seasons, but Van did not make it to the end of the first one.

There was a masquerade ball to be held on Olympus. It was a going-away celebration for Persephone and Van desperately wanted to go. When he asked her if he could escort her since he would be in disguise, she refused saying it was too risky.

Van wouldn't listen.

He wanted to dance with her. He wanted to hold her close. As they lived she would hardly let him touch her and soon she would disappear back into the Underworld for six months. The idea wasn't as appealing as it had once been – especially since she had decreed that he wouldn't be able to live alone in her palace during the cold season. She was going to send him home.

"You can't live here," she said. "Without me, your source of food is gone. I don't want you to die of starvation or drive yourself mad with hunger, so it's best to set you free."

"If I stayed here, I'm sure I would be able to hunt for food."

She stroked his cheek lovingly. He knew she loved his confidence, but she also feared it. It would kill him. "No," she said shaking her head. "Considering the way you are now, I don't think you could survive the trip to the surface. You would have to have an air supply and you would have to go up slowly so the pressure wasn't too great."

"I could manage that," he said, getting behind her and massaging her shoulders.

"Even if you made it, you would only arrive in the darkest wasteland of the sea. Van, there is nothing nearby – no human settlements. The only thing remotely close is a cloud trail that leads to Olympus and trust me, there's nothing edible along that path."

"What if we stored your blood?"

"That wouldn't work either. My whole body has to go back to the Underworld. If some of it was left undigested in your stomach, you would have to follow me. You have to go home."

Van didn't see any point in arguing with her. This had to be something she knew best in, but why had she built a secret hideaway for the two of them that he couldn't live in all year round?

Then there was the matter of the masquerade ball - a matter in which he couldn't accept her decision in.

The day of the ball, Van helped Persephone dress. Well, it wasn't really that he helped her, but he did do up all the clasps she couldn't reach – there were two. He stood by her dressing table, admiring her and feeling bitterly dejected that he couldn't go with her.

Watching her apply gold powder to her face, he asked, "How are you going to get to the surface without all that washing off in the ocean? Is that another skill of yours as a goddess?"

"Every palace has more than one door. This one has two."

"Two?" he asked in astonishment.

"One leads to Olympus, and one leads to the mouth of the river Acheron," she explained as she put in her earrings.

"Which one did I enter?" he asked.

"The one from the Underworld, since you came to get me at the palace gates."

"Why is that such a difficult entrance? Is it to stop Hades from reaching you here?"

"No. Hades could come here whenever he wanted to, but out of respect for my feelings – he never has. You see, even though I'm expected to spend six months of the year on Olympus, it's awkward socially. Hades himself doesn't choose to spend his time there although he is partners with Zeus and Poseidon. It's uncomfortable for him, so now that I'm his wife, we share many of the same powers, duties, and social discomfort. I don't want to be there more than I have to be. Actually, a portion of this palace is my old tower on Olympus. I felt unwelcome there, so now one of the mountain peaks leads home."

"Can I see it?" Van asked eagerly.

"No. I use it solely as a reception hall when gods and goddesses come to call on me. It's rare, but it makes them feel nostalgic to see my old rooms. I've outgrown them. I like these rooms better. They give me hope."

"But, I want to see—"

"No!" she snapped. "That part of my life is not for you."

Then she dipped her fingers in a second jar and ran them through her hair. The red of her hair was covered entirely with brilliant gold.

"Why are you dressing entirely in gold?" Van asked; his voice was soft and cautious. He didn't want to anger her further.

"Well, I have this ongoing joke going with Apollo, the Sun God. I try to outshine him."

"Do you succeed?" Van whispered in her ear.

"I haven't yet. It doesn't matter how he dresses, he's always the brightest thing in the room."

She tied her hair up in a scarf so ringlets fell around her face. The scarf she tied almost like a cone and other ringlets trickled out the end. It was beautiful. She was beautiful. Her whole body shone like the sun except for her green eyes. He wondered what she would do to disguise that part of her, because surely everyone knew Persephone for her piercing green eyes that were more radiant than emeralds. Finally, she took a long piece of thick gold ribbon and turned it back on itself until it was no longer transparent. Then she pinned it across her eyes like a blindfold and tucked the edges under her scarf.

"How will you see?" Van wondered.

"I'm a goddess. This body is very aware of who touches it. That sense of mine is stronger than sight. Actually, this gives me an advantage because then I can concentrate better. And sometimes it's better if I don't know whether I've beaten Apollo or not. It's a hopeless cause. The Goddess of the Underworld cannot outshine the Sun God, but I can't stop doing it, even though it is slightly ridiculous. He's my only friend besides my mother who still recognizes me as my old self."

Van was irritated. It annoyed him that someone so distanced from her like Apollo could walk the halls of his lady's tower while he – her lover – was expelled. "Will you dance much tonight?" he asked lightly.

"I don't know, but whatever it's like, it won't be anything like the sound of your drum on the beach with the stars overhead. Goodnight," she said as she swept through the door and down the hallway.

Van thought of following her up the tower. He thought he had already explored her palace in its entirety. He didn't even know what passage he should take if he wanted to find the way. Instead, he refused to follow after her and followed his own plan instead.

He ran to his room and got ready.

***

"I'm going to die," Van wheezed as he lay wet and deranged on the lip of the cave where Persephone had pushed him into the water.

What he just went through was definitely Hell. Now he felt like he partly understood what she was saying when she worried constantly for his physical person. It was lucky that he didn't need to swim anymore that day. The exertion would turn him into worm's meat.

He dried himself with a cloth in the parcel he had managed to bring with him. Then he rushed to find the cloud trail Persephone spoke of. Hopefully, it would lead him to the ball. Hopefully, he could slip in unnoticed with the gods and goddesses of Olympus. Hopefully, he could dance just one melody with Persephone.

***

Finally, he reached the gates of Olympus. They were wide open. Inside, gods and goddesses were mingling while heavenly music played. He had never seen so many colours. There didn't seem to be a distinction between the colours the women and men would wear. One goddess by the doorway wore the clothes of the night sky. Another wore the hue of the setting sun. Two women danced by holding hands. They wore nothing but ivy threads and moss.

Van pulled his black mask over his eyes and attempted to blend in.

He didn't see Persephone anywhere. She should have been easy to find, since she was dressed like the sun, but his eyes couldn't find her.

He saw Apollo, or at least someone who he thought was Apollo. He was clad entirely in gold like Persephone and was surrounded by five women, all vying for his attention.

Van himself wore cloth that had the appearance of black waves that splashed at night. They were the finest things Persephone had given him. He left his white wings unfurled and stepped around the outskirts of the crowd, because he didn't want to be noticed. He could blend in. Many of them had wings.

Looking around, he didn't know who any of these people could be until he saw one man. He knew him. He was wearing long dark trousers. He left his chest bare and had black tattoos all over his body. There were two circular symbols tattooed on both sides of his chest. There were black bands tattooed on his biceps with long curling symbols travelling up his shoulders and down to his elbows. His throat and back were tattooed also. Then his hands and arms – they were black to the elbow. His mask was created out of twisted metal with sharp thorns holding it slightly off his face. It looked like it should have cut him, but somehow, it didn't. It only framed his blood red eyes and made them look triply as menacing as Van' memory of Hades.

Everyone moved for him when he walked. His white hair flew over his shoulders as he parted the crowd – obviously making his way towards someone.

That was when Van saw Persephone. In her dressing room, she had shone so bright. Now she looked like her fire was embers instead of a full blaze.

Hades took her in his harms and led her onto the dance floor. She was blindfolded, but she clearly knew his touch because of her reaction. At first, she recoiled and then she submitted.

Hades wasn't looking at her. He was looking across the dance floor at Van. Then he started drawing on Persephone's shoulder with his ink-black index finger. They were the same symbols that were on his body.

Van couldn't see her face, but she saw her tremble and from the rise and fall of her shoulders her discomfort was palpable. Everyone in the room should have felt it, but no one made a move to protect her from her own husband.

Hades didn't stop at her shoulders. Soon she had his black fingerprints all over her dress and down her back. Didn't the man have any sense about where he touched her in public?

If someone didn't do something soon …

Van saw Persephone's mouth move. He strained his ears and heard her say, "Please stop, I think Demeter is watching us. I don't want to make her any angrier."

"Demeter hasn't come down yet," Hades breathed – his black breath smoking around her ear and staining her neck.

She turned her back on him and insisted, "Someone is watching us."

But Hades pinned her arms behind her back and while looking straight at Van, he kissed her shoulder. His eyes were gloating.

Van couldn't stand it. His nails scrapped at his temples as he breathed and tried to gain control over himself. There was nothing he could do. He wasn't a god, or a demon, or anything. He was an insect. He didn't even have a weapon. He had nothing.

Then Hades did the most horrible thing of all. He put his fingers on the strap of Persephone's dress and brushed it so it was on the precipice of falling. If it fell, her entire dress might fall down in front of all these people.

Against his better judgement – Van acted.

"Leave her alone!" he yelled.

Upon hearing his voice, Persephone tore the lace from her eyes and saw Van and Hades standing ten paces away from each other. The square went quiet as all eyes turned towards the twisted love triangle.

Persephone's face was tortured.

"So, it is you," Hades said pitilessly. He extended his hand and conjured a silver knife out of thin air. "It was so good of you to show yourself. What objection to my behaviour could you possibly have?"

"You're hurting her. Can't you see she doesn't like it?"

Hades bounced the handle of the knife in his palm several times before he answered. "You misunderstand. This show was only for you – to draw you out. Do you really think that I can't do whatever I want to her whenever I want? She's been mine for over a thousand years. There's no need for a public display."  
Persephone looked pitiful. Her dress and makeup were ruined and there was a tear coursing down each of her cheeks.

Van knew what she was thinking. He was going to die. He smirked. He had to make this good. "You've only got one blade. It will take more than that to kill me."

"No, it won't," Hades said, chucking it without further ado and slashing Van through the heart. "I won't share her with you."

Van fell flat on his back with his wings unfurled around him. He expected Persephone to fall on his chest and weep for him, but in his last seconds, she was running from the place with all due speed.

Van didn't know. Where was she going?

* * *

_Author's Notes: No beta reader. If there are any errors - I take full responsibility. Thanks to all my readers. I had some really stunning reviews last time. Thanks to all you who reviewed. My forum will be open momentarily. It is available through my profile._


	26. Waking up to the Third Dream

_Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne._

* * *

**Chapter 26 – Waking up to the Third Dream**

Sitting in the hotel room, Van didn't know what to make of his second life, except maybe he knew that he hadn't wanted to meet Persephone in this one. If he met her, he would doubtless fall on the same path of destruction that he walked in his first and second lives. He didn't want to live it again a third time.

Plus, there was so much he didn't understand. For instance, why had she decided to take a mortal body this time? Was it just to escape Hades for a longer time period than the six months she got every year? Why did she do it? And why had she run away when he was dying the last time? That was the only thing that bothered him from the last time. Why had she abandoned him?

He didn't know anything about her. Persephone was right in front of him and had cast a spell of enchantment on him the same way he had been fouled up twice already, yet he felt like he didn't know her.

From what he knew, each time he met her – her finest qualities were whatever he wanted at that moment. When he was Vangalis and she was Stella, she was holy – untainted by blood and the exact opposite of what he had known while living with the sirens. When he met her the second time, she was hurt – everything he wanted to protect. And when he met her this time, he had been a fool to her innocence in the form of Hitomi.

He had thought that Hitomi was a new person that he now loved, but he had been wrong. She was Persephone again.

Van scratched his fang on his bottom lip and looked at the unconscious girl on the bed. Her soul was Persephone's, but the body belonged to Hitomi. He had drunk her blood, so he knew _things_ about Hitomi that Persephone probably hadn't known when she lived in her body. He didn't know everything, but the taste of her blood unlocked her anger, her despair, her suffering, and with them why she had committed suicide.

When Hitomi was nine, her mother began leaving her under the guardianship of her best friend's son. They lived next door. He was twelve. When the abuse started, Hitomi didn't have the courage to tell her parents. It went on for months before she finally got the idea that if he hurt her face, her parents would ask her about it. Then she would have the courage to say that he did it … even if he had never hurt her face. So that was what she started doing. She told him that if he touched her, she would slam her face into the wall until it bruised and then she'd blame it on him.

It worked for awhile, until he figured out a way to explain it away – legitimately.

When her mother confronted her about the bruises and that the boy wasn't to blame, Hitomi was twelve. This strange deadlock between the two children had been escalating for three years without much intervention from their parents. She didn't know how to defend herself. He was perfect. His list of academic and athletic achievements was longer than Hitomi could scream. Her attempts at even hinting towards his grave misconduct were always thwarted in the face of his latest victory.

Hitomi's mother had grown so confident in him; her neglect towards Hitomi had no boundaries. One time she was introducing him to someone. Her voice was so proud and she was so busy talking about him like he was her star that she forgot to mention her daughter.

As he grew better at everything, Hitomi grew worse. She slowly stopped caring about everything. It didn't matter if she was pretty. What was pretty worth if it didn't protect her from the abuse? Her grades in school weren't important. She wasn't as smart as him on her best day, so no one paid attention to her grades until they were floundering. Skipping school gave her time away from everything, and time to sleep.

Her mother made him her tutor and then he was being paid to abuse her. Before this, her mother used to listen to Hitomi's complaints about him. They were watered down from reality, and it was obvious that she didn't believer her, but at least she listened. After this, she stopped. He was perfect.

Once the little monster realized that he could get away with anything and he would still be a star, he started bringing his friends by to 'play' with her.

And that was the last straw. Hitomi couldn't stand that kind of a life, and she had no where to turn to. Her lifelines had been pulled away from her one by one. After the bridge incident – her memories stopped.

There were two details Persephone was not told when she woke up in Hitomi's body. The first one was that when Hitomi threw herself off the bridge, she had tied her ankles together and then tied that to a bucket full of rocks. The doctors should have been able to guess from the rope burns on her ankles what she had done. That was the first falsehood. The second was that Hitomi wasn't really a virgin, even though Persephone clearly thought she was.

Van hated calling her sinful when he drank her blood, but self-mutilation and eventual suicide were crimes of the highest order. No matter what you've suffered, not even the warped God of the Underworld looks kindly on that sin. Van smiled wanly. That was because it spat in the face of the God of Fertility. How ironic.

He felt so much pity. It was actually Hitomi's memories of abuse and abandonment that moved him to rescue Persephone that night. After all, Persephone and Hitomi weren't that different. Both of them had been blissfully innocent and had their innocence bitterly snatched from them right under their mother's noses. And in the end, both of them resided at the bottom of the Underworld.

He couldn't do a thing for Hitomi. Her story was already over, but he could save Persephone and he was going to.

He sat in the chair and closed his eyes. Doubtless when he awoke, he would meet a very different girl. He wondered if he would love her as much as he loved Persephone when she had no memory.

***

Persephone blinked her eyes slowly. At first all she saw were white sheets. Then brown carpet. Wait, this wasn't her room.

Where was she?

Opening her eyes fully, she saw she was in a bedroom. Van was sleeping in an extremely uncomfortable position in an armchair. This wasn't his room, so where was she? Luckily, she didn't even have to get out of bed to find the answer to this question. There was a menu on the bedside table. So, they were in a hotel.

That was right. Van bit her neck and she fainted, causing her to remember all the pieces of her previous lives. When she had been Hitomi, she had hoped that she was autumn. Now she knew she was winter, but at least there was one thing to cheer her – Van somehow managed to get them away from Dilandau/Hades – whatever his name was. Mortal bodies certainly had their weaknesses. Hades was really taking a chance leaving his immortal frame in favour of watching her like this, but she knew what he hoped to gain from it. He was hoping that he would be able to win her love when she didn't remember his crimes. He was hoping she would forgive him.

There was no chance of that.

She stared at Van on the other side of the room. Now all those things he said about someone he was destined for made sense. His family had told him about her and their relationship, but from what he said – it didn't sound like he was very happy about it. She felt wounded. She knew he didn't remember his past lives well. It had been a consequence of the huge gaps of time between his births.

Didn't he love her anymore?

Persephone sighed. Maybe he didn't. Maybe he was just trying to end the curse.

She reached for the menu. It wasn't that she felt like eating. She didn't, but she knew that she needed to put something warm and soft in her stomach. Her head felt heavy and her body felt weak.

Picking up the phone, she ordered for room service. She tried to whisper, but it was impossible while talking to the kitchen. "Can I order a clam chowder in a bread bowl please, with a bottle of water and I know this isn't on the menu, but would it be possible for you to bring up an unopened bottle of grenadine?"

Van stirred, and blinked funny to see her awake.

"Sorry," she said immediately, when she replaced the handset. "I didn't mean to disturb you, but I really need to eat."

"Of course you do," Van said, looking at the clock.

It was three a.m.

Then he rubbed his eyes and leaned back looking into her face like he was expecting to see something different there. "How are you feeling?"

"I lost a little too much blood," she said quietly. "Thanks for saving me from Dilandau. Your timing was perfect."

"Dilandau?" he asked sceptically.

"Hades," she corrected. "I guess you're wondering if I got all my memories back."

Van leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. "Did you?"

"Yes," she said confidently.

"And what do you think of our situation, Persephone?" he asked, even more interested.

She looked at him strangely. "You can go on calling me Hitomi, since that's what's most familiar to you. I don't mind. Besides, calling me my true name sounds strange."

"All right, Hitomi. But do you think you could answer a couple questions for me as Persephone?"

She winced. She had hoped for a glorious reunion with Van since their last separation, but now, it felt like their last meeting was too long ago to reawaken the precious feeling they once shared.

Not only that, but there were a few things she wanted to ask him herself, and she bet that his questions would be a lot less painful.

"Ask away," she said dully.

***

"Why did you leave me to bleed to death when Hades murdered me last time?"

She bit her lip and looked at the ceiling painfully.

"It broke my heart that you didn't hold me in my last seconds. Why?" he asked and it was clear from his tone that he was having a difficult time controlling himself.

"I should have," she said, her voice low. "But, I was worried. Hades didn't know that I scoured the mouth of the river Acheron for your soul. I was terrified that he would find out, so I had to find you before he did. That was all I was trying to do when I left you in Olympus."

"You fished my soul out of the river Acheron?" Van blurted. "Aren't there practically a million souls waiting there to be ferried over?"

"Yes. It wasn't easy – either time I had to do it. You don't remember, do you?"

"No. Not at all. I don't remember anything that happened in between my lives."

"Then," she asked, pulling the blankets up to her chin, "you forgive me?"

Van got up and began pacing the room. He didn't answer her question, but instead persisted in asking his second question, "So, I want to ask you – why did you decide to be a mortal this time? Why not just stay as immortal Persephone all the time?"

"Oh. That? Well, there were a few reasons for it. For one thing, Hades has a really hard time finding me when I drink the waters of Lilim and forget my life as Persephone. That was why it took him so long to find me when I was Stella. I thought my overall plan would have a better chance at success if he wasn't watching me every second the way he does when I'm Persephone." She paused. "Also, I knew your memory would be bad. Things didn't go well between us when I paired you with my most jaded self, so I wanted to have a similar amount of experience as you, so we would match. But it's too late for that now."

"Do you wish I'd bitten you and returned your memory sooner?" Van asked softly.

"No. Your timing was perfect. You don't realize it, but the last two pieces of my plan have fallen into place in the last week. There's only one more thing I need to confirm and then we'll be ready to end this … forever."

Van looked a little sceptical. "You know, I've never heard what your plan entails or why it was doomed to failure last time."

"We'll go through it – piece by piece. But first, I need to eat, so let's wait until I have a full stomach before we talk about that. I need you to do something for me that you probably won't like."

***

The room service arrived and Hitomi lay in bed and munched on her food while Van sort of held his nose on the other side of the room. He had turned on the T.V. and was flipping through channels.

She was thinking about Van. He thought she was a different person. He thought that the girl Hitomi whom he had been attracted to was gone and only this cruel goddess that had abandoned him remained. Well, she didn't know his thoughts for certain, but she could guess. He didn't realize that it was her. Everything was always her. There were just so many different aspects and moods that came upon her that they could even be called personalities. It was just that she had lived so many different lives that by now, she was whatever she felt like being – innocent, enchanting, angelic, imaginative, wise, brainless, impish, devilish or whatever disposition she embraced at the moment. Every woman was a little capricious – she was just more so. This was something she had already learned; until a man accepted the changeability of a woman – he could not really be in love with her.

She pushed the grenadine towards him. "I ordered this for you."

He looked at her over his shoulder. "I don't need it. I've never drunk more than five hundred millilitres of blood in one day before. I'm very satisfied."

She let it slide and finished her food.

When she was done, she began looking around. There had to be something in the room she could cut him with, but what? She should have asked room service to bring her a steak knife. She looked in the bedside table, but all she found were company pens. Wandering into the bathroom, she found complimentary shampoo and clean water glasses with paper cups on top to keep the dust out.

That would work.

She grabbed one of them and smashed it against the floor.

Van came running. "What happened?"

She crouched on the linoleum and picked out the largest shard with her fingers.

"Van," she said - her voice deadpan. "I want you to cut yourself."

"What?" he asked as he took a step back. He was clearly horrified beyond measure, but she couldn't back off. She needed to find out the answer to her final question.

She picked up the other cup and took the paper top off it. Then she and jumped over the shattered glass splinters and advanced towards him. "I'm serious. Cut yourself and collect the blood in this cup."

"I don't want to," he said, his eyes wide with horror.

"You drained my blood without my permission earlier. At least return the favour. Besides, Raidne has done so much. At least show her the courtesy of sporting her accomplishment."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said as he removed his coat and rolled up his sleeve. He took the broken piece of glass from her and after a couple deep breaths, moved to cut the fat part of his palm. He grunted. "It won't work," he said after three tries. "It's not sharp enough."

He had passed the first test.

"Then bite yourself!" she hissed. Excitement was brewing inside her and her mouth was watering. She needed to calm down.

"Blood thirsty, aren't you? What did you discover about yourself when you were asleep?" he asked, barely containing his anger.

"The truth. Bite your wrist."

Hit bit down and broke the skin. Disgusted with himself, he licked his own blood off his lips and spat it on then floor, and then let the blood drip red into the glass. "How much do you need?"

"As much as you can give … until it clots."

He grimaced, but said nothing.

Soon the bottom of the glass was completely covered. "That's enough," she said, taking it from him and getting back into the bed. Pulling the covers over herself, she sat with the glass between her fingers looking at it as though it were a Petri dish.

Van went into the bathroom and got a face cloth which he wrapped his wound in.

When he came back, she gave him a sly smile from the bed. "I bet you're wondering what I'm doing with this."

"I did wonder if you were possessed," he said drolly.

"Silly. Of course I am." She raised the glass so she could look at the blood through the bottom of the cup. "I've just been thinking about you and wondering if you are finally everything Raidne promised me."

"You mean everything you extorted out of her?" Van retorted.

"You know, you wouldn't say that if you had a clear memory. You're forgetting how much Hades makes me suffer. As the Goddess of Fertility, I send souls innocent and clean into the world knowing full well they will return to me in the form of rapists, murderers, thieves, liars, and victims to a million other vices. I want all children to be conceived beautifully and cared for carefully and instead – do you know how often I am disappointed? My pains are those of both nursing mother and mortician at the same time. It's been that way so long that I can hardly remember the time that I used to laugh while wrapping new spirits bound for this world. Now I want to weep at both ends of the cycle."

"Too bad, you don't have to eat those souls for your support. Maybe then you'd understand how Raidne feels," Van said cruelly, turning off the television with an angry flick and chucking the remote control on the bed.

She took a deep breath. "You're only ticked off because you're forgetting the most important thing. Raidne and Teles had a choice and they made it. They could have fought off Hades, or called for help, or come down to the Underworld with me – refusing to leave their mistress. They are reaping the consequences of their choice. My problem is that I never had a choice. My feelings are so complicated, but there is one thing that I want and if I can get it – then everything will unravel and begin again."

"What's that?" he asked, his voice becoming more reasonable.

"A choice. I want to choose my fate. I want to choose my role in Heaven. I want to choose my mate."

"And you've chosen me?"

She didn't know how to answer this question. Back when he was Vangalis, her feelings for him were so powerful; she slit her throat for him. The second time, she had loved him, but they were not equal, so she decided to come down and take on a moral body to be even with him. Now it felt like it hadn't worked. He didn't love her. He merely saw her as a means to an end.

Well, she could think of him that way, too.

"I don't know," she said. "After we're through all the work we need to do and our curses are broken, then we can talk about us and what we are together. Right now, let's just focus on getting ourselves set straight."

A moment passed as her words sunk into Van. That seemed more acceptable to him than anything else she'd said. "So, what do you need from me?"

"First, you could answer some questions for me."

"I don't think I know anything you don't," he scoffed.

"Well, you might. For instance, why you have a hot tub in your bedroom?"

"I already told you – sirens live in water."

"Do they?"

"Of course they do. You've been to the cave we've lived in for centuries, so you know."

"And that's why sirens have wings instead of fins?"

Van cocked his head and looked at her strangely.

She didn't wait for him to answer and went on. "And that's why Folken waited until after you were born to have that pool built in his home? Because he seemed to live just fine without it for fifty years before you came along."

Van stared at her from across the room – totally speechless.

"How long can you hold your breath under water, Van?" she persisted. "An hour? Eight hours? Ten?"

"It gets boring to time it. I've never run out of breath," he said slowly.

"You see," she said, looking at his blood instead of his face, "the sirens from my past were not creatures of the water. It was a matter of convenience to live in the cave. Back then, sailors didn't come home for myriads of reasons and investigating their deaths was often too complex for their families or friends to manage. Doing things this way, Raidne and Teles avoided angry mobs."

Van stared.

"They didn't need water to survive, but you say you do. Actually, I don't think you _need_ it, but you certainly like it." She waited for Van to answer, but he was staring at the blood in her cup intently. "You know why, right?"

"Are you saying that my father was a water creature and not a human like Folken's was?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. You know, Raidne failed to procure the right kind of father for you the second time you were born. I was livid with her for taking chances with you. She needed to find you an immortal father if you were going to survive, because even after the first time you died, it was clear that was the only solution. Hades would just kill you over and over again if she didn't get you quality paternity. I knew immediately she failed the second time because if you were immortal, you should have been able to make the trip through the water to my palace without a problem. That was very disappointing. But this time," Persephone said holding up the cup of blood which had turned from scarlet to gold, "you're not going to die."

Van looked aghast. "So, who is my real father?"

"If I'm not mistaken, you are the son of Poseidon. His wife is a Nymph so I thought he might be a little more sympathetic to our cause. It seems Raidne finally convinced him."

Across the room, Van looked as though he had been beaten with a bat. That's how shocked he was. When he finally found his voice, he said, "Why have I been drinking blood all this time if I was immortal?"

"I'm sorry," she said. "Your hunger has nothing to do with your body's needs. It has everything to do with your curse. And besides, all this had to be a secret – even from you. Have you ever even been cut before tonight? I know – your mother – though cruel, never draws your blood, does she?"

Van shook his head.

She waited for him to speak, but he had lowered himself to the bed and now he looked like he was going to throw up.

"I know this must be a shock to you, but there's more."

"What else could there be?" he whispered.

"You're role in this. Don't you want to hear it?"

He inclined his head slightly and she took it as a yes.

"Do you remember the first thing we talked about when I brought you to my palace?"

"How I wasn't allowed to touch you?"

She turned her head and bit her lip. She couldn't stand to talk to him if he was going to act like this.

"Sorry," he apologized. "No, I don't remember. Please go on."

With his repentance, she didn't mind continuing. "I asked you to bite me, and you couldn't do it. Do you remember now?"

He nodded.

"I wanted to see if you could break my skin with your fangs."

"And I couldn't do it. So?"

"I ate six pomegranate kernels the first night I was in the Underworld. The juice and membrane are gone now and the only parts that remain are the seeds. They are located in different places on my body and I need you to cut them out – with your fangs. The fact that you were able to break your own skin just now was proof that you can damage an immortal with them."

"But," Van sputtered, "I'm not a scalpel. They'll be a huge mess."

Persephone looked at him with blank eyes. She had no pity for herself on these grounds and she could not understand his hesitation. Didn't he know how long she'd been waiting for this? "That's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. There is no other way. There aren't many weapons capable of cutting a goddess. This may seem strange, but this way is the most convenient. I do not want to take one of Zeus' thunderbolts to my chest."

"Are they in your stomach or where?" Van stuttered.

She scratched her head. "I don't know where they are, but I have a plan for finding out. I need to go visit someone tomorrow."

* * *

_Author's Notes: This always happens. As soon as I say that I'm posting regularly - fewer people review even though my hit count remains comparable. However, I'm not grouchy because quite a few of you signed up for author alerts and story alerts and posted me as their favourites. Thanks guys. Really. Thanks for the reviews I got and thanks for the alerts and favourites too. They were sweet. I had no beta reader and because of time restraints and a broken laptop, I wasn't able to review this chapter as many times as I normally would. My intuition tells me it's right the way it is, but who knows. And I have no beta reader to bounce things of off. Sigh. _

_I'll be making a new topic thread on my forum 'Shivering Wings' which is accessable through my profile. Look forward to seeing y'all there. _


	27. When the Sun looks on Death

_Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne._

* * *

**Chapter 27 – When the Sun looks on Death**

"So, what happened after Dil and I left last night?"

Persephone was on the phone with Naria. She called her just before checkout to ask her a few questions. Van was on the other side of the room giving off a gloomy aura. He couldn't help it and she knew why. He couldn't believe that she could just slide back into being Hitomi without skipping a beat after everything she'd absorbed in the past twelve hours. Why wasn't she like the goddess he remembered? Well, that was obvious. It had been nearly eight hundred years since they last met. Naturally, she was not the exact same person. She went through phases and as far as she was concerned, this was a phase where she could operate most efficiently if she was relaxed.

Naria was blowing air into the receiver. "I had too much to drink and ended up calling Folken. Ugh. It was brutal, Hitomi. He wouldn't even talk to me."

"Oh no! What did he say?"

"He said he was having a family emergency and that he would call me when it was over. Do you think I should believe him?"

Persephone hesitated as she wondered what the best thing to tell Naria was. "Actually, I do," she said after a moment of reflection.

"Why? It was obviously a crappy excuse he came up with on the spot just to get rid of me … Or maybe his 'family emergency' had something to do with his wife. Maybe she had food poisoning or something."

"I don't think it was that."

"Oh really? What do you think it was then?" Naria asked testily.

"Well, I saw Van last night," Persephone said soothingly. "I think the emergency may have had something to do with him."

"Really?" Naria's voice sounded hopeful. "What happened?"

Persephone looked to Van for guidance and he mouthed, "Wrecked the car."

She went with that and said, "I guess Van wrecked his jag last night."

Naria gasped. "You're kidding!"

"Not even a little bit."

"Wait! Let me get this straight. You left Hugo's with Dilandau and then somehow you ended up seeing Van?"

"Yeah."

"How did that happen?"

"It was really romantic. You might even hear something about it on campus on Monday. Dilandau were in my dorm room hanging out when suddenly Van started serenading me on the front lawn."

"Wow. There must have been a ruckus. Was any blood spilt?"

Persephone laughed like it was a joke, but said under her breath, "Only mine." Then she said out loud, "Listen, we can talk about that later. I called because I was wondering if you could help me with something. I need to find that guy we met last night – Dryden. Do you have his number?"

"Aw Hell. Don't you have enough trouble with your love life without getting that man-whore involved? Do I need to put you on a choke-chain in my basement?"

Persephone sighed. "It's not that, Naria. I just need to ask him something. I don't have to have his phone number either – an address or place of business would do just fine. I really need to get in touch with him this afternoon."

"Hitomi, I simply can't divulge that kind of information without a thorough explanation as to why. It's not like we're not friends. It's just he would kill me if you started stalking him."

"It's fine. I have shown stalker tendencies in the past, but I promise I won't stalk anyone except Van. I wanted to see Dryden because … I had a memory of him. I think I met him sometime before I was thirteen and I want to ask him if he knew me. It's nothing gross. Okay?"

When she said that, Naria's tongue loosened up. "He works as director of operations at the Black Jack art gallery on a Hundred and Third Avenue. I think he's even there today, if you wanted to pop by around lunch. Oh wait. Eriya says she has a date with him if you want to go with her."

"No. That's okay," Persephone said quickly. "I want to talk to him on my own, so I'll go over now."

Naria took a deep breath. "Hey, Hitomi, after you see Dryden, do you think you and I could hang out? I want to ask you about some things."

Persephone smiled. This was leading up the exact alley she needed after she spoke to Dryden. "You know, we didn't have a meeting last night. Would it be possible to round up the witches and Eriya and have a little impromptu club meeting tonight? I could host it."

"You don't want to invite Dilandau or Celena?"

"No," Persephone said, her voice tight. "And it would be better if they didn't know it was happening either."

"Did you two break up?"

"If only we could actually break up. That would be wonderful. He's kind of an impossible guy to get rid of."

"We told you not to date him."

Persephone rolled her eyes. "You're right. If I had listened to you guys, I never would have had any trouble with him. So, do you want to do the meeting or what?"

"I don't have plans and it's an off-night anyway, so Dil and Celena won't expect us to have one. So, at mid-night like usual?

"No, I want us to meet an hour before sunset instead, and we could have it at Folken's. He has a pool, so we could meet there."

"Is that okay with him?" Naria asked suspiciously.

"I'm sure it's fine with him," Persephone replied confidently.

"What are you planning on doing?"

"Astral projection."

"Huh?"

"There're here," Van interrupted as he opened the door to let Merle and Folken into the hotel room.

"I've got to go. Please bring everyone and show up at about four-thirty, okay? I'll supply the refreshments. And even if no one else comes – _you_ have to come, Naria. Okay?"

Then she hung up the phone.

Since Persephone was still in her pajamas and Folken's jag was practically lying in ruins, Van decided to bring in reinforcements. After all, his whole family was cursed, so all of them might as well be part of the cure.

Persephone hadn't given Van any details about who she was going to visit that morning. He'd heard the name Dryden, but she knew from the expression on his face that it didn't mean anything to him. If he knew what Dryden was like, then she wouldn't have escaped the wrath of his expression. As it was, she was lucky. The less Van knew about him before that evening – the better. That was why she was going to see him – he had to come to the Occult's Addict meeting.

Merle gave her a bag of her clothes. Looking at the girl's figure, Persephone didn't know how they would fit.

She took the bag Merle offered and slid into the bathroom while Van and Folken discussed the fate of the bashed jaguar.

As Persephone peeled her pajamas off, she remembered how she had felt the night before when she put them on. It was during her date with Dilandau. Now she knew that he was really her husband Hades, her mind was full of confusion.

Was the way he acted in Dilandau's body a real facet of his personality? He had been a complete odd-ball since they first met in the Occult's Addict office. She had a lot of questions, but the one that yelled the loudest was why was he pretending to be a cross-dresser? The twins said it was because Celena asked him to, but was that really reason enough? He was a cold-hearted monster who had made her life miserable for time out of mind and now he was playing mind games with his fake twin sister? Weird.

Disregarding all that, there were parts of his performance that made her do a double take. He said that he liked her before he admitted to having figured out that she was Persephone. Could she trust that that was the truth? She didn't know if she could since he may have known her on sight and then made it look like he didn't recognize her just as a precaution in case she got her memory back. Then she would certainly give him points for loving her when he didn't know who she was, right?

Wrong. Whatever he did that was good was tarnished by the fact that the despicable dirt bag had brought a gun to her dorm room. The handle was sticking out of his pants. Now that she had her memories back, she knew why he had it. It was so he could remove either her or him from their body and sent them back to the Underworld at any time. He was a human when he was in Dilandau's body and he couldn't use his necromancy to remove her soul from her body, so he had to carry a human solution – a gun. The monster said he had it because they were playing a game – him and her. Didn't he understand that she was serious?

She yanked one of Merle's a purple sweater over her head and stuffed her legs into a crisp pair of jeans.

"Where are the shoes?" Persephone yelled through the door.

"Oh crap!" Merle said, rushing to the door. "Sorry. I forgot the shoes."

Persephone rolled her eyes and opened the door. For a second, she didn't know how to deal with this. If it was Raidne or Teles or Folken or Van, it would have been easy. She would have stepped out and told them to get her some new shoes and they would have done it, but Merle … Persephone didn't know. The curse hardly affected her and if Persephone took her displeasure out on her – she would alienate Van.

She knew she said that they weren't a couple and they should wait and see how their relationship sat at the end of their ordeal, but still – she couldn't do anything that would hurt Van. Even if he was confused and angry, she still loved him.

Persephone opened the door and kept her face expressionless.

"Sorry," Merle repeated faintly.

"Merle," Persephone started out trying to keep her voice deadpan. "I can't wear my slippers to the Black Jack art gallery. What size are your feet? Oh, it doesn't matter. Just switch me. You can wear my slippers home. Don't worry. I don't care if you wreck them."

Merle sat on the floor and unlaced her boots. Then she took Persephone's slippers and put them on.

"Why don't you go downstairs and see how Folken's doing with the car?" Van suggested before Merle really did start crying.

She tiptoed out the door before Persephone had finished putting on her boots.

"Do you have to act like towards her? She's suffered from this mess, too."

Persephone sighed. "Van, the women in your family make me mad. I'm sorry if you didn't like the way I treated Merle just now, but I tried my best to stop myself from eating her whole. I think I did rather well, considering everything. Besides, I wouldn't force Merle to do anything if timing was not essential. I have to be ready for the next phase of my plan by sunset tonight. That is in six and a half hours. Hades knows I'm Persephone, so I have to make my next move before he realizes what I'm trying to do."

"All the same, try to go easy on Merle. She wants to help."

Persephone got up and put on the jacket Merle had brought for her. Then she said stuffily, "If she wants to help, then please send her to my dorm room and get her to pick up my stuff. I'm not going back there."

"Are you planning on staying with us for awhile," Van asked dryly.

"Yeah. I don't want to go back there. I need to be where you can protect me and you need me to be where I can protect your family. Is that okay with you?"

Van nodded.

"I'll sleep in one of the old rooms Folken has made up for his donors if they happen to lose consciousness."

Van did a double take. "How do you know about those?"

"This life was not the first time I had been there. I remember the layout from after the pool's construction. I came just before you did to make sure that it was a suitable place for you. You know, before I took Hitomi's body."

Van looked stunned.

"You should get ready," Persephone said steadily. "What you're going to do tonight is going to test you to your very limits. Your current tongue has never drunk immortal blood. Remember to keep yourself under control, because this is going to be worse than anything else you've suffered for my sake."

She stepped up to him and put her hand on his black head. His hair was soft. She wanted to put her arms around him and tell her how she loved him and how she had missed him both of the times he had left her, but she kept her tongue still. It was better if she waited. After tonight, there would probably be no uncertainty left in him. If there was even one tiny part of him that loved her – tonight the seal over it would break.

Then his hand came out and touched her waist.

Persephone was so moved, but her watchful eyes glanced at the clock. She didn't have time for this now if she was going to meet with Dryden before his date with Eriya.

"Van," she mumbled. "Can you give me some money?"

"Money?" he twitched.

"Yeah. After I see Dryden, I want to take a cab back to your place. Is that okay?"

His face soured, but he pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and gave her a couple bills. "I hope that'll be enough." Now his wallet was empty.

She was about to kiss his forehead when she realized how that would make him feel. "Thank you," she said as she pocketed the money. "I don't have much money."

"So you said." He looked miserably at the floor. "Don't you need to go?"

"Yeah," she said as she moved away from him. Then with one last painful look at him from the doorway, she left. She _had_ to.

***

The Black Jack art gallery was only five blocks from the hotel Persephone and Van stayed in, so she walked to it. The gallery had a large foyer that connected to a gift shop and then to a booth that led to the displays. Persephone walked up to the glass box and asked the woman inside if she could see Dryden.

"Do you have an appointment?" the woman drolly. It was clear that she'd had to fend off his unsuccessful lovers enough times that anyone asking for him was immediately slid into that role.

"I don't."

"Well, you'll have to make one. If you want to telephone his assistant, the number is—"

"I'm sorry," Persephone interrupted. "I'm his sister. He'll want to see me."

"His sister?" the woman chirped. "Sorry, that line isn't going to work on me. I've known Dryden for years and I know that he's an only child."

"I'm his half sister and I'm not lying to you. Intercom him and tell him that his sister Persephone is here to see him. I'm positive he'll let me right in."

The woman looked doubtfully at her before she dialed the number. "Denise, there's a young woman at the front desk to see Dryden. She says she's his sister, Persephone. Yes, I'll wait."

At least thirty seconds passed before Denise got back on the line to give the verdict.

"He's coming out," the woman finally said.

"Thanks. Can I go in?"

She nodded, but Persephone didn't get two steps in before Dryden appeared. His face was set in hard lines as he punched information deftly into a blackberry with one hand. He hardly glanced at her. "What are you doing here?"

She smiled wanly. "I have to apologize for last night. I wasn't myself."

"If that's all you came for - it's fine. It's not like I was fooled by your little game," he said, as he finished with his blackberry and stuffed it in his pocket. "I actually have a lunch date and a bit of work to finish before she gets here, so if you don't mind, can we do this some other time?"

"Dryden," she said, taking a deep breath and blowing a bit of her hair off her forehead. "Please don't blow me off. I didn't come here just to apologize. I have another reason. Could you give me a minute? I'm sure Eriya won't mind if you're two minutes late."

"Fine," he said blankly. "Two minutes."

"In your office?" she suggested.

He rolled his eyes and began leading her towards the back. "You know, it's not like you haven't had two thousand years to ask me something if your curiosity has been peaked? Why do you need to talk to me right now, when I'm so busy?"

"You're exactly right; however, I can guess your feelings on this subject so I didn't want to ask you until the situation actually came up."

He opened the door to his office and held it open with his hand on the door over his head. "Get in."

She went in and presumptuously sat down in the chair behind his desk.

"Make yourself at home," he said as he shut his door and leaned against it. "Now do you want to tell me what this is all about?"

"I need a favour from the great Sun God Apollo."

He raised an eyebrow. "Of course you do. What is it?"

"I want you to go to the Underworld and have a look at my body."

He snorted. "What for? You're a goddess, so you don't exactly need medical attention."

"That's where you're wrong. I finally figured out how to break Hades' contract with me and I need you to have a look at my body and figure out where the pomegranate seeds I swallowed are. I think I've been able to locate two by myself, but I can't find the other four."

Apollo shook his head irately. "You know, even if I can find them - it's not like I can remove them. My medicinal skills are for humans, not auto-regenerating goddesses."

"You're not going to be the one to cut me open."

"What? Are you going to do it yourself? How are you going to manage that?"

"No. I've been preparing someone to do it for me. That's the other half of this favour. I want you to escort him to the Underworld."

Apollo looked extremely uncomfortable. "Don't get ahead of yourself. I haven't agreed to do anything for you and even though I've allowed our conversation to go this far, it has gone far enough. I'm not going to help you leave your husband."

"Why not?" she snapped. "Didn't you fall to your knees and weep when I was stolen from Olympus?"

He wagged his head. "What happened to you back then was despicable - obviously. The thing is - I think it's too late to set it straight. And why would you want to? Hades has been completely faithful to you for thousands of years. What other god has been so faithful to his wife?"

"Stop talking," she spat. "You just don't want Hades on your door because even though he couldn't kill you, he would make you pay dearly for moving against him. Didn't you say the other night that he outranks you? The thing you're not getting here is that I'm not asking you - I'm informing you."

"What could you do to me that would give you the power to give me orders?" he gawked.

"It's not what I would do to you. It's what I would do to your lady love. It's Eriya these days, isn't it?" Persephone sneered.

His face went pale. "You wouldn't."

"Don't think that I wouldn't. I have lived in the Underworld for centuries. I don't even think of death as an ending anymore. Besides, she won't suffer … unlike me. If you don't help me, I will be cut to ribbons as my surgeon searches for the seeds. Even with your help, what I will suffer will be incredible. Even gods and goddesses have nervous systems."

Apollo stroked his chin and looked thoughtful.

"You're worried about Hades coming after you afterwards, aren't you?" Persephone supplied in a tolerant tone. "I can't promise you that he won't, but he might not."

"Why not?"

She sighed. "I just don't think he's very vengeful in temperament – despite what he did to me."

"And you would really kill Eriya if I didn't do what you asked?" he asked like something sour was resting on his tongue.

"I don't really want to. I like Eriya, but since you won't help me voluntarily, I need to use what leverage I have. Even I think it's petty, but what am I supposed to do? I wasn't able to defend myself back then and my soul screams for the opportunity to try again. I want to have the choice, Apollo. I'm sure you understand that. You never married, because the choice has always been yours."

A strange silence filled the room as the two of them contemplated the walls angrily.

"I was supposed to marry you," he finally said.

Persephone stared.

"That's what Demeter had in mind when she refused Hades."

After a moment of reflection, she said quietly, "I didn't know you wanted to marry me."

"I didn't particularly. I only thought of you as a sister, even though it's quite common for siblings to marry on Olympus. That was what was on the table at counsel the night Hades asked for you. Demeter asked me if I wanted to marry you and I said no. That was when Hades interrupted and made his intentions known." Apollo sat down on the corner of the desk and looked into her face tenderly. "It wasn't that I didn't care for you. It was just the feeling I had for you was philia instead of eros. You were an infant, just like all those sweet spirits you sent here." He paused. "When I saw him ask for you, I thought two things. I thought that he would make you a better husband than I because he was passionate about you – unlike me. I didn't want him to have you because I thought that his darkness would spoil you. I felt it so strongly I was willing to go to war over it, but now that the darkness has already done its work, I don't know that you should be freed. The balance the two of you keep over the souls of this world is perfect. Why not just embrace your joint role with him?"

This was Apollo's second attempt at getting her to forget her plan. Persephone knew that it marked the end of their conversation. "Stop it. I get it, but I don't care. I won't change my mind. I want freedom and choice."

"Isn't there one part of you that has grown to love him during all the time that you've lived with him?" Apollo entreated.

She looked up into his brown eyes and said coldly, "How dare you be so hypocritical? You would throw me back into his arms where I have been abused for thousands of years, when you're terrified to meet him yourself for one hour. You know what? Forget Eriya. When my seeds are removed and I'm free – I'm coming after you."

He laughed. "What're you going to do, little Goddess of Fertility?" he asked mockingly. "You can't even cut your own skin."

She narrowed her eyes hatefully. "I can. I have. And you don't think I can do anything to you. Well, maybe from today onwards you'll just get every single one-night stand you have pregnant."

Apollo looked horrified, but to his credit, he looked more upset when she threatened to kill Eriya.

Moments passed and he still didn't answer her.

"Are you going to help me or not?" she sighed. "Zeus has lent his one favour to me for this cause. All of my effort has been for this goal for centuries. If you don't help me, I will do it anyway. I'm only asking you to ease my burdens and if there's something I can do to protect you from the wrath of Hades – I will do it."

"I hate this," Apollo said dispassionately.

"I know, but please," she said, losing her Goddess of the Underworld demeanor and looking like a child again just because she willed it. "You couldn't save me back then like you wanted to. Could you please do just this little bit to save me now?"

He wilted. "I hate this. If the balance of the universe gets thrown off, I won't be to blame for it."

Persephone smiled roguishly. That was exactly what she wanted to hear.

* * *

_Author's notes: THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED LAST TIME! Thanks! Yay! It made me so happy. But don't slack off now - keep reviewing. Besides, I'm moving over the next two weeks, so if I'm gonna get my chapters done, I'm gonna need a lot of encouragement. Okay, so my forum is up and you can access it through my profile. It's called 'Shivering Wings'. So, I'll be doing a post there right after this. Oh, and I had no beta reader so if I missed something - I'm only human. Cheers!_


	28. Water on the Alter

_Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne, but I don't think this has anything to do with Escaflowne as it stands._

* * *

**Chapter 28 – Water on the Alter**

The taxi ride back to Folken's apartment building felt so fleeting to Persephone. It wasn't that she was anxious to get on to the next phase of her plan. Actually, it was the exact opposite. She wanted to stop here in this moment and take a break. She wanted to take stock of the situation and make sure that the course she was taking was still the right one.

She thought about Raidne and Teles. Of course, she wasn't sorry that they had been cursed, but she was starting to feel like the duration of their punishment had been sufficient. It didn't need to go on forever.

Then there was Van and Folken. Neither of them had done anything wrong – especially Van. It was for his sake that she'd started down the path that would invariably save his whole family. Who knew it would take them this long to get to this point?

She sighed. She wanted to break Van's curse. He was innocent and it didn't matter that the Van that existed now was hung up on a part of her personality that would come and go like the ocean tides. One day she could be innocent; the next day vengeful, the next day compassionate, and the day after that she would be creative. It was a roulette wheel. There was no limit to the parts of her that she could draw on. It was the way a magician drew cards out of a hat. It was too bad she didn't mind being unreasonable when it suited her.

Now she didn't know what to part of her personality to give him. If she went back to being her version of Hitomi, she wouldn't be able to endure the trials that awaited her that night. Hitomi would cower at the threshold of that pain. If she was going to manage, she needed to present her strongest front. And unfortunately that was the goddess who rebelled in any way she could against the Lord of the Underworld for almost as long as she could remember. That was her at her ugliest. When the bug of her injustice got in her ear – there was nothing she would not do.

But Van wouldn't like her like that. What man could love a woman who played her cards like a brandished sword?

There was nothing for it. She would just have to avoid him until she had everything arranged. Hopefully, that was good enough to keep him from hating her.

Maybe she had thought enough. She hadn't gone through the trouble of giving Van an immortal life just to let him live the rest of it cursed. She had to follow through – if only for his sake.

The taxi pulled in front of Folken's building just in time for Persephone to see a police cruiser move away from the curb. In the backseat, she could see a white head.

The police had taken Folken away.

Persephone paid the taxi driver and met Van at the door of the building.

"What's happening?" she asked after Van let her in.

"They want to talk to him about the car chase I had with Dilandau last night. Except that they didn't know I was driving. It was Folken's car, so they didn't even ask. They just assumed it was him and now he's taking the blame."

Van was obviously sorry and Persephone wanted to say something to comfort him, but she didn't know what to say. She wanted to give Folken a slap on the back the next time she saw him to thank him for his help. If Van got dragged off by the cops and got stuck in questioning, he might not be able to make it back by nightfall. That would be no good since tonight was her only sure-fire chance to get started. If they didn't strike before Hades, she might not get a chance to strike at all. She was positive that Van knew all this, so reminding him seemed pointless. In the end, she didn't say anything.

"Why do you look so tortured?" Van grumbled. "It's not like Folken can't handle himself."

"Of course he can," she said, suddenly remembering that she needed to get out of Van's sight. "Since that's taken care of, I'll just pop upstairs and have a word with Merle."

"What for?" he grouched.

"Don't be so protective," Persephone said breezily. "I'm promoting her."

"To what?"

"My personal assistant."

***

"Is everything ready?" Persephone asked Merle as she stormed down the stairs and through the doors to the pool level.

"Yeah, but it's not very fancy," Merle admitted as she scampered around behind Persephone's heels.

"It doesn't have to be fancy," she said, observing the table of refreshments Merle and Melanie had set out. There were two fruit plates, a tray of cream puffs, three bottles of wine and bread with artichoke dip. "This looks perfect, except lose the wine. I don't want anyone drinking tonight. I want our guests sober."

"What should I get instead?" Merle asked, picking up the bottles.

"Apple juice and steal some cookies from the theatre level," she instructed, as she glanced at Merle's feet. She was still wearing Persephone's slippers. It was interesting how their relationship changed after Merle met her in the hotel room. She was all respectful obedience now. The change had to be due to Folken. He must have said something to her before he left with the cops, which suited Persephone perfectly. Having useful servants was so much better than the other kind.

"By the way," Persephone said, changing the subject. "How did it go at my dorm room? Did you at least pick up my clothes?"

"Yeah," Merle said. "They're waiting for you in Van's room."

Persephone narrowed her eyes. "I told him that I'd take one of the unused rooms on the third floor. Didn't he tell you?"

Merle looked sheepish. "Yeah, but Folken said that one of those rooms couldn't possibly be made ready by tonight. He was going to give you his own room, but Van said you would rather sleep in his bed."

Persephone didn't ask if Merle knew if Van was intending to sleep there with her. A knot caught in her throat. Then she swallowed and made herself calm down. He probably didn't mean anything by it. She'd wake up in the morning and he'd be sleeping comfortably enough in his tub. That was, if she was lucky.

"That's fine," Persephone said to Merle like it didn't matter. "Thank your mother for me for helping out."

"Okay," Merle said as she gathered up the wine bottles and headed for the doors.

"Hey Merle," Persephone said, making the girl turn. "Don't go too far away. I need you to attend the meeting tonight."

"Me?"

"Absolutely," Persephone said somewhat brightly. Then she crouched on the pool deck and removed her shoes.

"Do you need a bathing suit for tonight? I think I may have an extra one," Merle offered.

"That's nice of you Merle, but I won't be getting wet. I just wanted to dip my feet in the water."

Merle nodded like she understood and left the room.

The pool was exactly like Persephone remembered – a perfect circle. The bottom of the pool was painted blue with black symbols painted on top. From the surface the circles and stars looked about as enticing as octopuses and fish painted at the bottom of a kiddie pool. But Persephone knew how important they were. This room had two functions. The first one was to give Van a place to connect with his aquatic roots and the second was to create a direct path to the river Acharon.

***

At four-thirty, the three witches and Naria arrived.

"Welcome," Persephone's voice echoed across the water. She stood on the diving board and looked at them. "I'm glad you all came."

Naria was laughing. "I've never been in here before. I'm so glad you invited us. So, this is the legendary pool room? Weird. Oh yeah. Eriya and Dryden are two steps behind us."

Naria came in and touched the water with her fingers. "Huh? There's no chlorine. Hey girls, come have a look at this."

The three witches recoiled at the door. "This is a dark place," Millerna said as she moved to grab the door handle.

"I thought you said astral projection," Eries interrupted. "You didn't say anything about necromancy."

"What?" Naria exclaimed.

"Look at the bottom of the pool," Marlene, the oldest, commanded. "This is a place used to summon the dead. Don't think because we're white witches that we don't know what those mean."

"I had no intention of fooling you," Persephone said, walking backwards until she stepped off the diving board. Then she came around and approached them. "I have something important to tell all of you. If you don't want to meet in here to begin with then we needn't. We can go into the theatre and I will tell you my story."

"We already heard your story," Eries said scornfully.

"No. You will hear the rest of my story." Persephone locked eyes with Marlene. She was the one would make the decision for the rest of them.

"Okay," Marlene said finally. "But if we don't like what we hear, we're leaving."

"You'll like it," Persephone nodded as she led them out and took them barefoot to the theatre.

Once in the theatre, she sat Marlene, Eries, Millerna, and Naria on the front row and then sat down on the lip of the stage. Then Van and Merle came in and took their places by Persephone on the stage. Persephone introduced them to Merle since none of them knew her.

"So, what are we doing tonight?" Naria bubbled. She didn't have any apprehension about black magic. The stormy faced witches had no effect on her mood.

"I want to wait for Dryden and Eriya," Persephone responded. "Hey, why don't you give Eriya a call and find out why it's taking them so long?"

Just then, the buzzer went and Merle went to go let them in.

"Dryden, Eriya, sit over there," Persephone instructed.

Once they sat down, she started.

"Okay, we're ready," the goddess said, uncrossing her legs. Changing her position she let one of her legs dangle off the stage and brought her other knee up to rest her chin on. "I'm not really sure where to start," she began as she let her eyes sweep across all the people she had brought together. She paused when she reached Van. His face was set in serious lines, but Persephone looked away. She had to. She couldn't let his discomfort ruin her concentration. So she bucked up and began muttering, "You know, nearly any way I start in my mind is too much of a blow for you all to take, so you'll have to forgive me for my abruptness. This is a story about past lives. It's a good thing that I know that none of you have a problem accepting that possibility. Bless open-minded people." She sighed. "A long time ago I was a virgin, but I was stolen from my home, abandoned by my servants and forced into a marriage with a man I thought of as nothing less than a monster. It wasn't just for one life on Earth either. It has been a marriage meant to last forever. So I have been trapped in a loveless union with a depraved demon for centuries and now in this stolen life I finally have my chance to escape. Hitomi didn't want it anymore, so I possessed her body and assumed her identity."

"What are you saying?" Naria asked when Persephone paused.

"I'm saying that Hitomi succeeded in killing herself that day. Her soul is in a bottle on my dressing table in the Underworld."

"Are you saying that you're the Goddess Persephone?" Eriya perked up, leaning forward on her tightly crossed legs.

Persephone was shocked at her perception. Actually, she hadn't wanted to unload her story like that, but it seemed the fastest way to hold the witch's attention.

Van whistled.

"Is she right?" Naria asked, leaning forwards to look at her sister.

"Yes," Persephone said, rubbing her palm with her tips of her fingers. "I am the Goddess Persephone. Because my body is bound to the Underworld the only way I have to escape is by becoming a body thief."

"I don't believe this!" Marlene said, getting up from her seat.

"It's true," Dryden said, getting up to look the oldest witch in the eye. "I don't know why my sister brought all of you here tonight, but if she asked you, she must have a role for you to play. Please allow me to end this nonsense and use me as your sign that she's not lying."

Marlene's eyes were wide as serving platters as she watched him transform.

Dryden put his hands to his hair and the brown was shaken off to reveal his perfect golden curls. He touched his face and whatever was swarthy about his skin before was removed and his countenance shone like the sun. Comparatively, his clothes looked like dry rags. They had looked so smooth and new when he first came in. When he opened his eyes and looked at the guests, his eyes were the colour of polished brass. His glory was beyond brilliant.

"Apollo!" Eries gasped.

Persephone looked at the girls to see if they believed now that they saw his display, but when she saw Eriya's face – there was no surprise – only praise. She had seen this before. Naria's mouth hung open. It looked like Eriya had been able to keep one secret from her sister.

"Are we clear?" he asked the assembly.

The women nodded.

Then in the blink of an eye, he returned to the way he was before. "Continue, sister."

Persephone nodded thankfully.

Then she told them the whole story, from beginning to end.

***

Persephone told her story to the end. When she got to the part about how she fell in love with Vangalis, she spared no detail in explaining her love for him. After all, wasn't he listening, too? She wanted him to know how much she cherished him and how her memory of their shared feelings hadn't dimmed.

She ended by saying, "When I was with Vangalis I felt whole. I felt the warmest form of sacrifice as he laboured for my sake from sunrise until he laid me down to sleep. I was protected, calm, and beloved. I have never felt the happiness that I felt with him elsewhere. Now I want to save him."

The room was quiet. No one wanted to interrupt after that. Dryden was getting restless, but Persephone wouldn't look at Van. She didn't want to see his face after her confession. She turned her head and wished she had a curtain of hair to conceal her eyes.

"What about Hitomi's soul? It's in a bottle on your dressing table?" the youngest witch asked after the moment lapsed.

Persephone nodded. Then she told them of Hitomi's sexual abuse and her hurt and mutilated spirit when she arrived in the Underworld. She had been ferried directly to judgement because she had a toonie in the pocket of her cut-offs when she jumped off the bridge.

After that, the twins and the witches were especially interested in hearing about Dilandau being Hades and the car chase Van had had with him while trying to escape with his wife.

"You know, if he didn't lose his memory when he took Dilandau's body," Millerna said speculatively, "then that probably means that all those things that he didn't believe in aren't real. Like when he said he wasn't interested in crop circles because he didn't believe that Martians made them. Maybe there aren't any Martians."

"There aren't," Persephone agreed. "But there are other creatures in this world that aren't humans or gods." She winked at Merle. Then she changed the subject. "You see, when you drink the water of Lilim, you're supposed to forget everything, but some things are so engrained in your soul that you can't forget them. For instance, I wasn't able to forget that I loved Van and I wasn't able to forget my goal." She paused and prepared to drop her bomb. "I need a few people to help me. That was why I joined an occult club. I was trying to find people here on Gaia to help me fill the last of my requirements."

"What do you need us to do?" Naria asked, barely sitting on her chair.

"We need to start by opening the door to the river Acharon. As I already explained, I need Apollo and Van to go to the Underworld to have a look at my body and remove the seeds. Witches, please do not be alarmed by the magic that we will be drawing on. I'll be calling on the Goddess Persephone, which is me – so there won't be any strange repercussions. I'll just be creating a link with myself."

"It sounds fine," Marlene said. Even if she was a white witch, it didn't seem like she was unreasonable.

Persephone nodded. "In order to open the door, I need you three witches and Eriya to go into that back room and allow Merle to draw five hundred millilitres of your blood."

"Why?"

"We need to pour blood on the altar. I can't go into the siren's storehouse for blood. It only works if it's fresh. Don't look at me like that. You think I made up necromancy? I never asked to be a part of this."

"I'll do it," Eriya volunteered immediately. She stood up and yanked up her sleeve. "Naria has told me about this plenty of times. It's not a big deal. It's exactly like donating blood. All you girls get up."

Persephone felt a jab of conscience. She had threatened to murder this loyal girl not six whole hours ago. Her eyes unconsciously flicked over Dryden. He knew what she was thinking.

Merle got up and led Eriya back towards the room where Persephone had given blood the day before.

Persephone pushed away her feelings and focussed on the task at hand. "Will you help?" she asked, looking directly at Marlene.

"Sure," she said, taking off her coat and following Eriya.

"What about me?" Naria interjected. Her voice sounded hurt. "Why don't you want my blood, too? I'm immortal. You could get more than enough from me."

Persephone shook her head and jumped down off the stage. "Your blood won't work at all. It's got to be a human sacrifice – not an immortal one."

"But I want to help, too."

"And you will," Persephone said soothingly. "Your role is one of the most important. You see, when I said that we were going to practice astral projection, I meant that you and I are going to. When the others finish giving their blood there will be nothing else that they need to do, though I am going to invite them to watch." She hesitated before continuing. "You know, I feel like I'm dropping nothing but bombs today."

"It's okay. Go ahead and spill it."

Persephone took a deep breath. "I need you to be the marker in Hitomi's body. If my spirit leaves her body, it will die. If your spirit leaves your body, you will live. It will be the same for you as it is for me. My body lies in the Underworld without my soul in it and lives."

Naria's bangs fell over her eyes and covered her expression.

Persephone couldn't tell if it was going well or not. "It would only be for tonight," she reassured, but Naria's face didn't move. "I'm sorry, but my spirit needs to be in my body while the surgery is taking place, or it won't work. Do you think you can do it?"

Naria suddenly jolted up. "I can do this!" she practically screamed. "In all the time I've been in this club, I've never got to do anything a tenth this exciting. So, how does it work? Tell me and we'll get started."

"Thank goodness," Persephone moaned and threw her arms around Naria. "I was afraid you were going to say no."

Naria put her arms around her and said, "It's not such a big deal. After all, I don't know who my dad is. We could be sisters."

Persephone rolled her eyes. Considering her philandering father, that was a definite possibility.

***

After that Persephone went back to the pool deck. She had some work to do there while the girls were getting their blood drained. She needed to trace ruins around the edge of the pool. If she had been in her own body, she would have simply used her black-soul-stained fingers to write the ruins. Since she had no such luck this time, she had to use a black eyeliner pencil that she kept in her backpack. She smirked. Maybe it was more fun when she had to be inventive with her tools.

So she got to work. The circles and stars for the inner track of the magic circle were already painted on the bottom edge of the pool. Now she had to draw the outer track. Basically, it her name in Greek characters over and over again. Gauging the distance around the pool, she guessed she had to write it six times, so she divided the edge of the pool into six sections beginning in front of the diving board. Then she began writing.

Actually, this pool could be used to summon different deities from the Underworld. That was why the outer track had not been done with her name in the tiles.

"What are you using to write with?" Van said, suddenly leaning against the doors.

"An eyeliner pencil. What? Not professional enough for you?"

"I guess it doesn't matter as long as you get the job done." He came up and inspected her work. "It seems to be working well."

"Thanks," she said, getting up and looking at her writing. "This has taken me forever. Are they almost done downstairs?"

Van nodded. "Millerna is the last one."

"Good. Hey, I have a question."

"What's that?"

"Do you have any more money?"

"If you're worried about how Dryden and I are going to pay the ferryman, I've already got it all worked out. Raidne has been saving Greek and Roman currency for thousands of years. You better believe she's already sent half her treasure trove to us for this very purpose. I could pay Charon enough to make him a king."

"Wonderful. Except I think he likes toonies. He said something about how he thought the gold and silver coins were precious when Hitomi gave him one."

"You're kidding."

"No. He said they were different. Heaven knows what he does with all of them or why he needs them. So Van," she said pausing to regard him seriously. "Are you ready?"

He sucked in his breath and cast his eyes downwards. "I don't know how to prepare myself. I'm not hungry because I had so much to drink yesterday, but that's all I could think of to do. What are you doing to get ready?"

"I don't need to get ready. My mind is clear, but I can understand if yours is clouded. You don't remember me—"

"I want to," he interrupted, looking in her eyes. "What you said this evening was … eye opening. That first time we met in the tower, I don't remember it and that tower fell into the sea before I was born for a second time."

"Hades toppled it after I slit my throat," Persephone said with a sigh. "That was why Raidne and Teles were devouring our corpses in the cave instead of where they lay. They had to fish us out of the sea."

"So, it was like that?" Van said sorrowfully.

She suddenly grabbed both his shoulders and forced him to look at her. Studying his brown eyes she said with conviction, "This doesn't have to go on. This can end tonight. If you're single-minded, if you listen to me and work quickly – we could finish this tonight. I could walk out a free woman, leaving my obligations behind and start a new life."

"And we'd be together?" he asked quietly.

She smiled uncertainly. "I love you, but I can see that you're floundering. I don't blame you. The way I am right now … what's loveable about it? Nothing. You love me best when I'm lost and need your direction."

He clenched his jaw and didn't answer.

"It's just that," she continued, "if we're going to win – I have to be like this. I have to be uncompromising about the things that are important and neglect the things that aren't."

"_We're_ not important right now?"

"If you're saying that, I don't think you appreciate how rare this opportunity is. Do you realize how hard-won your lineage was? Even beyond that, there are other components that have only now been brought into place. And it's not like our relationship won't reach a new level tonight. For the first time ever, you are going to drink hot immortal blood that you have cut for yourself."

He seemed mildly uncomfortable. She knew he had never liked himself as a blood drinker.

She slid her hand around his waist and put her head on his shoulder. "It's all right. I trust you completely. You won't lose control. And the experience will be so much more rewarding than you realize – beyond tasting my blood. So far, you've only seen two sides of me. Tonight you're going to see more, and if things happen the way I foresee – the changes in me will change you."

"How will I change?" he asked as he tried to look at her.

She kept her face away from him. "Either you will grow up to meet me, or you will turn away from me. Either way, the road we will travel will be a painful one, but even if it hurts, you have to walk it with me until the end. What happens after that will be completely new – for both of us."

The moment hung silent and stretching before the door banged open to announce the entrances of the witches and the Gemini.

Eriya and the witches sat in deck chairs and ate in order to raise their blood sugar levels while Merle delivered four plastic bags of blood to Persephone. She looked at the girls sitting in the pool chairs sipping apple juice out of cocktail glasses and taking tiny bites of biscuits. They were fine. She didn't need to worry about them, even though she secretly had.

Persephone was marginally regretful as she popped open the top of the first bag of blood. "Thank you," she said to the girls. "I know this was a big sacrifice that you made specifically for me. Thank you for wanting to save me."

They nodded, and Marlene even smiled at her.

Then Persephone got to work. She started by squirting the blood in a slender line all the way around the edge of the pool on her name. One bag of blood covered two of her written names, so she used three to encircle the whole thing. Then she had one left. She stepped out onto the diving board and emptied the last bag into the water.

The lights flickered.

Persephone started saying the words to the spell.

Then the lights flicked off and only the lights that illuminated the pool from underwater stayed on.

"What's happening?" Millerna whispered.

Persephone chanted.

Mist rose off the water and filled the room with grey fog. Then tiny blue lights appeared. Persephone knew those lights. They were the lost spirits that wandered the edges of the river Acharon because they lacked fare. Then the ferry appeared. At first it was grey like whispers of ghost breath, and then the tiny lantern hanging from the bow of the boat came into focus. The sides parted the water of the pool. When Charon came into view, someone gasped. Charon took no notice and manoeuvred his craft so that the side was level with the diving board, where Persephone stood.

He looked at her and said, "My Lady, you never cease to amaze me. Asking me to come all this way to collect you? You should have just slit your throat like the last time. It would have been quicker."

Persephone smiled wanly. Even though he acted like this, she had grown to like the old ferryman, but she'd never stopped wondering why he chose to spend his eternity in his role.

"This ride isn't for me," she said, retreating back off the diving board and making room for Van and Dryden to step on.

She watched them make their way down the diving board. It was sort of like watching prisoners walking the plank of a pirate ship where they would definitely die at the bottom of the sea, except not, because they were in a pool that neither of them could possibly drown in and they were purposefully jumping off the plank into the boat of the dead when neither of them could die.

Van jumped first, stepping onto the boat with an odd clatter, making the boat jostle a little in the water. He gave one of his coins to Charon and then took a seat in the back of the vessel and spread out his arms like he was master. Persephone's eyelashes flickered with emotion. It was exactly the way Hades had sat nearly two thousand years before when he had kidnapped her. She felt a surge of hope. They were going to be able to do this. Van would unmake her contract. She knew it.

At the end of the diving board, Dryden stood and made himself Apollo before he stepped into the boat. He gave Charon another one of Van's coins, but did not take a spot by Van's side. The space on that seat was only enough room for one, unless the two on it were intimate, so Apollo sat on the floor of the boat and leaned his back against the side.

Persephone strode to the end of the diving board to have one last word with Charon before they left. "I'm going to leave this gate open, so those two can return to this entrance when they're done their task."

"Aren't you coming too, My Lady?" Charon inquired.

"Not by this path. I'll meet you at the mouth of the river at the end of your journey. Travel safely."

"You know I don't promise my customers anything – especially not their safety," the ferryman of the dead rasped before he pushed away from the side of the pool and steered the boat into the mist.

After they were gone, the room did not change. It was still black and foggy with the only light coming from under the water's surface.

"Naria," Persephone said, stepping on the pool deck. "Get comfortable. It's your turn now."

"So, what do I do?" she asked as she put her cocktail glass on a table next to her.

"Lie down and imagine your spirit is flying," Persephone said as she lay down on the deck next to her.

Even though it did not seem possible, she was about to live the most painful night of her life. It might even make what Hades had done to her seem tame and she was going to let Van do it to her on purpose.

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_Author's Notes: Thanks to everyone who reviewed last time. The reviews made me really happy. Reviews always make me happy. Anyway, I didn't have a beta reader. When I was proofing this chapter I saw an awful lot of typos. So, there may be a few still. I tried to get them, but if I didn't - please don't grill me. It's been a hard week. My forum is up and available through my profile page. It's called 'Shivering Wings'. I look forward to seeing you all there._


	29. Golden Lifeblood

_Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne, but if I ever decide to write an original fiction and use the name Van - I'd better not hear any crap from any of you. lol._

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**Chapter 29 – Golden Lifeblood**

Blue lights.

The cave that led to the Underworld curled around the travellers. Surrounding them were thousands of glowing orbs hanging in the air – the lost spirits of the dead.

Blue lights.

Van felt strange as he looked at them. He had spent most of his existence as one of those lights. Like Hitomi, he had been in a bottle on a dressing table – not Persephone's though that would have been favourable – Raidne's. Persephone couldn't keep him for two reasons. The first one was that Raidne needed to have his soul with her should an opportunity arise that could give him the immortal body they sought. The second was that if Hades found Persephone hording something like his rival's soul – Van would never get out of Tartarus.

Blue lights.

As he passed them, he felt a deep kind of expectation rise up in his heart. In this life, he had never felt like he had something to look forward to, but if he could break the curse tonight then life held unlimited possibilities. He could live the way he wanted to and whatever road he decided to travel he would never again become one of the tiny blue lights that wandered the banks of the river Acharon.

When they reached the mouth of the river, Persephone was there waiting for them. She was like his dream – the second dream - but a thousand times more vivid. It was her eyes that struck him the hardest. She had green eyes when she was in Hitomi's body, but when her natural red eyelashes framed those green eyes – the impact was undeniable. Still, somehow, she was different from what he remembered. The line of her mouth was harder and she was dressed differently. Forget the silks. With the changing of the times, so was there a change in her wardrobe. Now she was wearing blue jeans and a black halter top that crossed across her chest and tied in two different places on her back. The top left her stomach exposed and around her hip bones were the same type of symbols that he had seen Hades draw on her in his dream.

She tied her red curly hair into a ponytail and then put out her hand to help him onto the stone-carved dock. Her hand was warm. He was just getting used to it when she let go of him and turned to Apollo to help him out.

"Are we going to do this here?" Apollo asked, "Or do you have some other place in mind?"

"We need to go to one of the bedrooms. Once this is finished, I won't want to be moved. I can heal best if I'm lying down." Her lips were deep red as she spoke. Van couldn't keep his eyes off her.

As she led them through the house, he kept thinking, "This is the woman I fell in love with? This is the woman I wanted to protect so badly that I gave up my life not once, but twice? I believe it."

Also, he noticed that she was right. A different side of her personality was coming out. In the pool room she had seemed competent, controlling and exacting. Now she was leading them through the mansion of the Underworld like a nervous detective in an action movie. She peeked around corners. She perked her ears like she was waiting to hear the sound of a door at any moment. She went ahead from time to time and then beckoned for them to follow her.

Then it hit him. She was really afraid of being caught by Hades – even if she was a goddess.

Finally, it seemed like they were at the end of the line. There were two doors in front of them.

"This one leads to the bedroom for whores and this one leads to the bedroom for wives. What do you think?" she asked, turning to Apollo. "Which bedroom should we use? I've never been in the bedroom for wives. If Hades comes home, he probably won't look for me there, so that would give us time."

"But if you're planning on leaving him than the insult of performing your surgery in that room would be devastating," Apollo commented pityingly. "Besides, that's the only place in his palace that he has not shared with you. I think it would be better if you let him keep one thing to himself. It would give you a little dignity."

Persephone favoured him with the foulest expression in her artillery.

It was then that Van realized that Persephone did not have Apollo's approval. After his speech to the Occult's Addict, Van had assumed that she did.

Now he felt like the 'other man' and he hated that. He always ignored that part of their problem because it disgusted him. It wasn't as if she had decided to marry Hades or given him a promise of love. She hadn't. Yet even so, she was breaking a contract when she kissed him, Van, so she was unfaithful. And to help her out of it and save his family he had to become 'the other man'. He hated all that foul talk. It wasn't fair.

However, there was one thing he hated even more – drinking blood. So, he didn't pursue the subject or seek to defend himself. Instead, he pushed ahead of them and entered the room meant for whores.

It was black. The only light in the room came from her dressing table, a tiny blue light in a bottle. Then Persephone entered and the room seemed to come alive at her entrance. Potted plants swayed like there was a breeze, candles spontaneously lit, water began flowing down one wall, the bed curtains parted, and the edge of the sheet curled down.

Van stared. Then he cleared his throat as if to let everything in the room understand what he was saying. "This is where your contract was made. This is where we will break it."

Persephone seemed incredibly heartened by his words. She cast her green eyes on him with such approval that it nearly stopped his heart. Even though he knew he was just a tool, her praise made him feel valuable.

"Lie down on the bed," Apollo said, coming up behind her.

She gave Van one last look before she smoothed her blankets back into position and laid down on top of them.

"All right," Apollo said, sitting next to her on the bed. "Where do you think your first two seeds are?"

"My abdomen," she said, touching a spot above her navel and then moving her fingers as she pointed to a spot below. "I think there's one here, and down here."

Apollo brushed her hands away and placed his own against her stomach and pressed down firmly. "I owe you an apology. I thought you were dressed like that because you were planning a seduction."

"Then apologize," she said icily.

He looked into her eyes earnestly, more earnestly than Van thought possible under the circumstances, and said, "I'm sorry."

She said nothing more and after a moment of his pressing and feeling her abdomen and sides, he said, "You're right. There are only two there. One is lodged in your large intestines and the other just outside your stomach wall. I'll start searching for the others now. Close your eyes."

Van would have felt uncomfortable with Apollo touching Persephone. He knew that it was not considered immoral for gods to dabble in incest even though it was considered a disgusting practice among humans. Yet, even so, there was nothing romantic in the way he touched her. He started with her head and placed his fingers on her temples. Rubbing gently, he didn't look at her. Instead, he looked at the ceiling or the headboard behind her. He didn't see anything. He was focussing on his fingers.

His hands worked their way into her flaming hair and behind her head. "I found one," he said. "It's lodged between your spinal cord and your skull."

Persephone winced.

That one would be undoubtedly difficult to remove.

After that, Apollo spent a long time examining her throat. He seemed to think it was logical for another seed to be there, but after a good five minutes, he moved on to her shoulders and down her arms. He held both her arms at the same time and examined different muscle groups to see if he could feel a difference in them. He paused when he came to her wrists. "There is a seed stuck in each of your wrists. They're deep. That accounts for five. There's only one left." Apollo's eyelids flickered as he scanned her. "There's only one place for the last one," he said, placing a hand over her heart. "It's here."

Persephone slapped his hand away. "Sorry," she repented immediately. "I just didn't want to hear that last one. It will take me to the brink of death to have that one removed."

"He is the God of the Underworld. He wouldn't make this easy." Apollo sighed and then got off the bed. "Did you catch all of that, Van?"

"Yeah," Van mumbled, wondering how he was going to get up the appetite to do this.

"Do you want me to supervise?" Apollo asked, looking at Persephone's bare stomach.

"You think I should start there?" Van exclaimed in disbelief. He had absently been thinking of starting with her wrists.

"They are actually in the least vital place on an immortal. Besides, she hasn't eaten in five years, so there won't be any other food in her system. It's completely clean. If I were doing this, that's where I'd start."

Van looked to Persephone for guidance.  
She nodded.

Van mentally buckled himself up. He didn't want to appear weak in front of either Persephone or Apollo, but his teeth were chattering and his hands were trembling. He walked around to the other side of the bed and climbed on top of the cover.

"I am just a tool. I am just a tool," he chanted in his head to calm himself, but he wasn't calming down. His incisors were growing long inside his mouth. One look at Persephone lying there waiting for him to bite her and he was coming unhinged. He wasn't supposed to be like this. He had already had all the blood he needed. The idea of biting her shouldn't even temp him.

Just then Apollo drew out the bed curtain. "I'll leave you two alone," he said. His voice sounded remarkably like a physician's.

"Are you all right?" Persephone asked, propping herself up on her elbows.

"This just feels so wrong," he whispered.

"It's not. This is nothing. It's not sexual. This is the opposite of sexual."

"How so?" he mumbled, his head in a daze of red.

"What you're going to do to me now is the thing that stops you from enjoying a rich full love. I've thought of it many times. If you hadn't needed to bite me that first time, I never would have remembered who I was. Hades might never have found me and we could have enjoyed love for Stella's whole lifespan. And you couldn't be with me as Hitomi because one shot of her blood wasn't enough for you. You can't have real love if you're going from woman to woman trying to satisfy your appetite. Likewise, Raidne can't have true love either when she must murder the man in her heart. What we're doing is an extension of all that, but this will be the last time."

"And what about you?"

She sighed and slipped gently on her back. "I'll love you as you rip me to shreds. You'll feel it."

Van ran a hand over her unbroken skin lingeringly. It seemed the ultimate shame to cut her.

"Don't dwell on it. Time is short. Please, don't hesitate."

He moved his hand over her stomach and paused over the area where one of the seeds was. Then he closed his eyes and sticking out one incisor more than the other, he scratched. Nothing happened.

"You're going to have to bite harder than that," Persephone whispered, her fingers reaching for his free hand.

He held her hand and bit down without remorse, which was what she wanted.

Persephone's blood tasted nothing like Hitomi's. In order to find out about Hitomi's past, Van had to swish her blood around against his pallet like he was a human tasting wine. The message contained in human blood was subtle. It could even be ignored if he drank quickly enough.

This was different.

Persephone's blood screamed her message, even though he tried not to taste it and definitely not to deliberately drink it. Her injustice burned his tongue. Before she got her memory back, she had flashbacks of her life when they kissed. Now when he drank her blood he got a glimpse at what she had lived as the wife of the God of the Underworld.

One moment the back of her head was bruised as Hades slammed her against a wall. Van felt her pain.

The next he heard the mocking laughter of the white-haired goddess Aphrodite. Through Persephone's ears, the sound was too cruel to be tolerated.

Then Hades was sitting next to her on the settee, trying to feed her pomegranate kernels. She couldn't stand the taste. She spat them on the floor. Hades red eyes narrowed. He raged for her ingratitude and spat on her.

Van bit down on her harder. He had to find the seed. He had to make these memories stop.

On Olympus she was forced to partake of the virgin Goddess Artemis' pity and condescension. Persephone couldn't stand such talk from a woman who had kept everything that had been stolen from her. Then to add insult to injury – Artemis was Apollo's twin. His adoration for her had never ebbed, not the way his love for Persephone had withered.

Back in the Underworld, she was treated like Hades' doll as she was forced to try all the different clothes he had prepared for her as gifts to celebrate her return. She grew numb to the sight of her own naked body. The modesty she had once cherished was wasted.

With a spare hand, Van lifted his mouth off and pulled part of the bed clothes over Persephone's bodice.

Then with his fingers, he reached into the incision and rooted around until he found the long hard seed.

Persephone's face was dead-white as he removed it.

"I got it," Van proclaimed with blood dribbling down his chin.

Persephone sighed and let her head rest on the pillows.

"Excellent," Apollo said, sticking his arm between the bed curtains and holding out a small glass bottle for Van to put the seed into. Then with another hand, he tossed some white cloth on the bed. "Wrap her wound," he instructed before his fingers disappeared.

"Thank you, Van," Persephone whispered as he put pressure on the gash, "but please don't stop there. Leave it until you have taken the other one out. I fear we don't have much time and I want as many out as possible."

"How's the pain?" he asked, not moving to obey her.

"I can bear it," she murmured with her eyes closed. "It's like Apollo said. These will be the easiest to remove – for both of us."

He cradled her head in his palm and in so doing touched the burial place of one of the seeds. "I'll take care of you."

"Then take care of me now and get the next one out," she mumbled, her eyes peeking open to reveal two eyes like shining fireflies.

He nodded and found the next place.

Van wanted to move confidently, but after he felt those few shards of her memory, he wasn't sure if he wanted to know more about her suffering.

Swallowing his concerns, Van bit down again.

This time he felt loneliness; long stretches of loneliness. First, Persephone was lonely on Olympus. Demeter was the only one there for Persephone and she loved her, but Demeter was also a Goddess of harvest and fertility and worthy of worship. Thus, she was not always there to hold her daughter's head in her soft lap. For just one second, he got a taste of the love Demeter had for Persephone. She was a mother who loved her child despite all the rumours and disapproval that followed her.

Persephone was considered a disgusting child on Olympus, because she could not let go of her mother's skirt. How could a grown woman continue to want her mother's love and attention like that after she was married? And she was a goddess at that! Persephone knew what they said about her. She knew Demeter ignored them. Demeter was the only one who cared for her still since she had filthy arms. She could not let go of her mother. There was no one else.

She was a wretched wife to Hades who would have had a grand family by now with beautiful daughters and powerful sons, yet Persephone denied him. She wasn't even of any use to him in bed. Pathetic! In this case, the disapproval came from Hera herself.

The last thought was a snapshot of Zeus himself giving her a disgusted look. It was because she'd gone missing from Olympus for a season and left her work to her mother. That was unpardonable. But Persephone didn't care, not even when she was reprimanded by the God of Heaven.

A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. She would have suffered more for the memory she got in exchange. Van felt her pleasure as she remembered running like a mad woman in Stella's body. She brushed her wind torn hair out of her eyes and looked over her shoulder at him chasing her.

Van jolted away from her. He had forgotten what he was supposed to be doing. Immediately, he plunged his fingers into her wound and searched for the seed.

He was surprised. He had not expected to see himself in her memory or see his own face with such a happy expression. He couldn't believe he had ever been that happy. His current past felt like nothing but curses, curses, curses! How could he have been that happy? It didn't seem real.

He pulled the seed loose and dropped it into the bottle Apollo held out for him.

"Wrap her up," Apollo hissed, shoving his head through the curtains. "I hear footsteps."

Van ignored the blood on his face and worked rapidly to bandage her wounds.

"He's coming!" Apollo prompted, helping him tie off the makeshift bandage.

"You have to go," the wounded goddess said, holding her stomach. "There's a back door to this room that leads back to the river. It's behind my mirror. The password is 'breakable'. Hades doesn't know I know it," Persephone mumbled, pushing Van and Apollo away. "I'll face him myself, so go!"

"No," Van said, grabbing her hand. "You have to come with us."

"I can't," she whispered. "You have to leave me here and go back to Charon."

Van felt helpless. Why couldn't he protect her? What wrath would she have to face from Hades? He couldn't leave her alone to take the brunt.

"I'm used to it," she said as though she could read his mind. "He's here."

Apollo pulled Van off the bed by his shoulders, just as Hades stormed through the bedroom doors. Apparently, he had abandoned Dilandau's body and the man who stood in front of them was nothing less than the actual God of the Underworld. His eyes were red as spilt blood and the vapour that surrounded him was the colour of ashes, until he saw the three of them. Then it suddenly turned inky black. "What is this?" he asked. His voice calm though it was clear he was enraged.

"Get out of here," Persephone cried as she indicated the front door with her chin. Then she said placidly, "I want to show my husband something."

It was then that Hades noticed her bandages. His eyes became flames. "What have you done?" He extended his hand and drew out of oblivion a scythe with a blade as long as the span of a man's arms. "Apollo, I'll sever your head for what you've done, and as for that boy you brought down here. He'll forever rest in Hell. This is the last time I will stand for this ridiculousness."

Van stepped between Apollo and Hades. He tried to speak, but Hades immediately struck him across the chest with the edge of his scythe ripping a huge gash open from shoulder to hip. Van couldn't even scream. His blood splattered across Hades' face.

As he fell backwards, golden arms caught him. It must have been Apollo who caught him.

Van's head swam in pain. This feeling … he knew it. It was like a dagger through the heart or an arrow that cut to his core, except somehow this was different. He had felt his strength desert him as his soul prepared to take flight those other times that now came back to him so vividly. This time was different. The pain was exquisite, yet palatable. He could swallow this pain.

Van pushed himself onto his feet as Hades' eyes became like two red moons hovering on the horizon. He could not believe what he was seeing.

"Golden blood? Immortal?" Hades spat. "How? Who?"

Apollo grabbed Van from behind and everything became a blur.

"What are you doing?" Van choked.

"You think you can fight him just because you're immortal? Fool," Apollo muttered between set teeth.

Then somehow Van was lying on the bottom of the ferry. Apollo rifled through his clothes until he found the money to pay off the river master and soon the boat rocked to the current to the beat of a lullaby.

"You should have left me there," Van said grudgingly as his golden blood pooled under him. "She shouldn't have to face that monster alone."

Apollo sat in the seat at the back of the boat and put his chin in his palm. "You think just because you're immortal now you can stand on two feet and face Hades? Idiot. He can still slap you in Tartarus. He can still fight you until you choke on your own blood. Dying was a blessing before. If he gets his hands on you – he could arrange for you to be tortured until the end of time. This immortal coil of yours is not a blessing. It's a curse."

Van couldn't talk for several moments. He hadn't thought of it that way before, but it had to be true. When he could finally speak, he asked Apollo, "Then why did she do this to me?"

"Because … this is the _only_ way. But even now, as she lies in bed with gnashes in her belly, she's protecting you. Take her protection as a sign of her love. Besides, you have undone two of her months. Now she only has to spend four months a year with that Devil. Tonight has been a great success. Enjoy it. In one night you have done what she couldn't do for herself in eighteen hundred years."

"But … what will Hades do to her?" Van asked, afraid of the answer. His cut was already on the mend. The blood had stopped.

"Who knows? Who knows what he has already done to her to make her like this?" Then Apollo dropped something beside Van's head. It was the bottle with the pomegranate seeds and smudges of Persephone's blood smeared inside the glass. "You keep that. My part in this is over. From now on – no matter what happens. No matter what she suffers tonight – it's up to you to cut the remaining four seeds from her body. Just don't swallow them in your haste to get them out or you'll be in the same mess she got herself into."

Van picked up the bottle and clutched it to his heart. What was that Devil doing to his treasure?

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_Author's Notes: I wasn't supposed to be able to release today, but I had some extra time, so goodie for all of you. I will open a new forum thread on 'Shivering Wings' immediately - that will be accessable through my profile for anyone who's interested. And everyone please REVIEW. I love reviews. They give me fuel to work. Thanks to everyone who reviewed in the past - please review again. Thanks!_


	30. His Other Half

_Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne. This is just one of those things that I do_**_._  
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**Chapter 30 – His Other Half**

The scythe in Hades' hands bounced recklessly as he paced the room. Persephone watched him carefully and waited for the moment that he would turn it on her. She had to hold out a little longer. She had to wait until she was sure that Van and Apollo got away. Once they were on the river boat, they might have a chance to get Van somewhere safe so he could heal, but where was safe for him now that Hades was a God again?

Persephone clutched her stomach and tried not to think about it.

Finally, Hades let the scythe evaporate in his hands. Then he approached Persephone on the bed and ordered, "Take your hands away from your gut."

She did as she was told.

He tore her makeshift bandages off and examined her wound with his nose ten centimetres from her skin. Then he scoffed as he backed away, "You never once asked me to free you, and now you're doing it in the most painful way possible. Why?"

"It's the only way," she muttered, covering her wounds with the leftover shreds of bandage. "You would never have let me go. Pretend to deny it. I dare you."

Hades narrowed his eyes hatefully. "I won't. I just want to understand why you have never once come to me with any of your desires. Why? Why is it always someone else? Why do you always take your problems to someone else? Your mother or Apollo or … Vangalis? Why can't you ever tell me what's wrong? Why can't you give me the chance to make you happy? You never even talk to me!"

"How could I talk to you?" she whispered. "Nothing about this arrangement was discussed with me. I don't care that my mother didn't give her blessing to our union. You didn't ask _me_. When you broke through the mountain, you could have _asked_ me to come with you. You could have asked me to be your bride."

"You wouldn't have accepted."

"And you wonder why I didn't ask you to let me go. You wouldn't let me go. We have always been at odds, you and me. Why even bother discussing it?"

He hid his face by turning it into a shadow.

"I can't go to you with anything, because you defied my very existence – the creation of innocence – and brought me to the place where everything I sought to make was desecrated. You wanted to control the balance of power, but I only see it as trying to control two sides of the same magic. I can't play both sides, so if I don't reject you with all my heart I will not be the Goddess of Fertility. And just like me, you can't play both sides, so you can't stop trying to break me down. The longer I stay with you the hotter my rebellion must be until we stand at this threshold. I will do anything to depart this place and never return."

He turned into the light. His eyes burned her like splattering lava. "And my love for you is meaningless?"

"Rape is a hate crime. It has nothing to do with love," she said evenly, not allowing herself to feel scorched.

His shoulders fell and his expression became sorrowful. "And I can never prove that my love for you is real?"

"Never," she said unrelentingly.

"Why not?"

"Because sometimes I think you only regard me as a way to lighten your load. You know just as many people are born into the world as die. That means that the number of souls we have to sort out here is the exact number of souls I send down to Gaia. Who helps you with the work of judging them? Me. Who helps me with the work of preparing them? Not you. My mother lends a hand whenever I am gone from Olympus, but she has her own work to do and a great deal is left for me. Besides, there is no real rush to judging souls – there's no heated romance that gets overplayed or people praying for conception. Here, timing is unimportant. When I do my work on Olympus, timing is everything and because I'm only there for six months of the year, I'm forced to do double duty – except for now when I'm playing truant. My father must be raging since I've been gone for five seasons, but I don't care. He can leave his post and try a hand at my work if he finds my absence intolerable." She paused from her tirade and glanced at a timepiece on the wall. Now she was positive that enough time had passed. Apollo had plenty of time to remove Van. Charon should be back at the dock.

Hades was absorbing what she said with his jaw clenched and his chest heaving.

She didn't care. She let her eyes flutter closed. "Hades, the damage is already done and the pain is overwhelming. I'm done talking."

"You think I'll let you off this easily?" he demanded, grabbing her by the elbow and jolting her into a sitting position. He forced her green eyes to stare into his red ones and continued, "You have never mentioned any of these grievances before."

"We've already discussed this. There was no point. You wouldn't have wanted to help me. It's against your nature, just like me living as a Goddess of the Underworld is against mine. Go ahead. Tell me you would have done helped me."

"I might not have," he conceded through clenched teeth, "but I would have liked to understand your perspective better."

She narrowed her eyes and said, "Which is something you haven't sought since the beginning."

Then he shook her and the violence of it tore her wounds open further than Van's teeth. "When are you going to forgive me for that?" he bellowed. "When will I have your forgiveness for that one time?"

"It hasn't been just once," she choked, fighting against the pain in her gut. "If I kept marks on a wall like a prisoner in jail counting the days, how many would there be? I ask you; how many would there be?"

Hades was stunned. It was clear he didn't know.

Persephone didn't either, but regardless her eyes were accusing. There had been enough times to warrant her rage.

He let go of her and turned back into the room while she wept and used the bedclothes to soak up her blood.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked callously.

"You shouldn't shake an injured woman like that. This blood is fresh."

"And what? Am I supposed to nurse you better? I should slice you in half for the wound you've put in my heart."

Persephone returned his heartless stare with hers and said coldly, "Knock yourself out." Then she grabbed a coin off her dressing table and shoved it in her mouth, placing it under her tongue.

She let her spirit take flight and let her body fall limp. Flying, she made her way up to the mouth of the river, her soul moving so fast that she was almost out of the mansion when she finally heard Hades' scream. He hadn't expected her to do that. He'd probably abandoned Dilandau's body for good.

Now she just had to get Charon to take her back down the river and drop her off at the pool. She spat the coin into her hand.

Excellent. She was still one move ahead of Hades and her queen wasn't dead. Hitomi's body was probably enjoying something indescribably fattening that was one hundred percent against Naria's diet.

***

Persephone opened her eyes. She was lying on a plastic deck chair by the side of the pool. The grey fog still filled the air and the ferry to the Underworld still stood by the diving board. Apparently, Charon had stayed to watch her gain consciousness in Hitomi's body before leaving. She saw the edge of his lip twitch in a smile as he lifted his pole and shoved off from the edge of the pool.

Her body felt strange. Even though it was her immortal body that had been cut, her soul had to be present for the surgery to be effective. Persephone knew this. Her spirit body represented her physical body, thus if her spirit wasn't there for the operation, her spirit would not realize it was free after the seeds were gone. There shouldn't have been any difference when she took Hitomi's body, but it didn't feel right. Her body was uncut and should have felt perfectly healthy, but Persephone didn't feel the perfect fit she had before. It was as if she had taken enough pain killers to drop a rhino, and there was an unearthly trembling in her stomach. Her spirit knew she was wounded. Even though the pain was gone, the knowledge was still there.

She flexed her arm to test the body. It worked fine, even though there wasn't a hundred percent synchronization.

Putting her feet on the floor, she checked on Naria. Her eyelids were flickering violently as Eriya held her head in her lap.

"Is she going to make it back?" the twin asked nervously.

"Don't worry," Persephone said in an authoritative tone. "It's a matter of practice. Once she's done this a time or two, she'll be able to take instant possession. The most important thing is not to panic. Be soothing. If her spirit sees you in distress, it will make it harder for her to enter her body. Relax and give her more time. If she keeps having trouble I'll guide her soul back myself, but it shouldn't come to that. Your psychic connection should be enough."

Eriya nodded.

Persephone knew she understood what she had to do completely.

The next thing Persephone needed to do was to check on Van, but she wasn't sure how to approach him. What happened to him when he drank her blood? Why did he suddenly cover her with a blanket? And why did he jump away from her like something startled him at the end?

She hurried to help Van, but she couldn't do anything.

He was lying on the deck by the edge of the water. His cut was worse than she thought when she saw Hades strike him down, and his golden blood had made a mess of him. There was nothing she could do for him at this point. There was no medication or treatment for the immortal. They simply had to muscle through the pain until they healed on their own. Except her, who played the coward by leaving her body to endure it alone – not just the pain – but whatever Hades saw fit to do with her after her consciousness was gone.

What could she do for Van? After everything he had done, she was in such awe of him that she wanted to bow down in front of him.

On the deck beside him, Merle attempted to smother his wounds with towels while he pushed her away. "I'm not bleeding anymore," he growled. "And I don't want you to touch me."

"But …" Merle pleaded.

"Persephone," he hollered, looking directly into her eyes like he saw her soul. "Protect me. Close the gate to the river. Now!"

Persephone didn't hesitate, even though she had reason to be ashamed. She should have thought of that herself. Closing the gate would make it harder for Hades to pursue them. She grabbed the towel Merle was trying to use on Van and dropping to her hands and knees, she scrubbed the blood and her name off one portion of the circle. When the witches saw what she was doing, they grabbed towels and worked with her until it was all rubbed off.

The fog in the room dissipated until the lights hanging from the ceiling shone clearly. Soon everything was as it had been before Persephone had opened the gate.

"All done?" Van questioned weakly. It had been too much effort for him to yell.

"All done," she replied softly.

"Excellent," he muttered and then he rolled into the water with a splash.

"What happened?" Merle asked quietly, clutching a second towel stained with gold blood.

Persephone looked around the room. It seemed to be the question on everyone's mind. She guessed Van and Dryden didn't have time to tell them before she got there, and now she had to answer their questions. She didn't have time for it. She had to get to Van. She had to hold him and tell him of her gratitude for everything he had done, but he was lying on the bottom of the pool now. It was deep. Could she even reach him before her air was cut off? This was one of those moments when she felt the sting of duty. Even if the Occult's Addict didn't realize it, their actions that night made them her worshippers and she couldn't turn her back on those who followed her.

"Come here. I'll tell you," she invited kindly while she stifled her instinct to dive into the pool.

Persephone took a perch on a deck chair that she set up by the water's surface. Just as she sat down, Naria stirred.

"Wow," she breathed. "That was one wild ride."

"Did you like that?" Persephone asked, still maintaining her façade of control.

"Yeah," she said, before she fell back into Eriya's arms.

"Good, because I'm going to need you to do it again."

Marlene groaned. "You weren't able to get all the seeds?"

"No, but we got two. Hades discarded Dilandau's body and came to the Underworld and caught us. Tomorrow, if some of you want to go visit Celena, it will be very interesting to know if Dilandau is dead or if Hades was able to use a marker like I did."

"Couldn't he give Dilandau his body back?" Millerna asked.

Persephone was a little taken-aback. "I suppose it's not impossible. The God of the Underworld has powers I have not seen. He and I never let each other entirely into our worlds."

A hush fell over the room, but was quickly brightened by Dryden who was scavenging around the refreshment table cursing that there was no liquor. "You made me do all that work and you're not even going to buy me a drink?" he scorned.

The party continued as everyone listened to Persephone explain what happened in the Underworld, but Van stayed under water for the rest of the gathering. After all the guests went home and Merle went up to bed, Persephone sat on the diving board and watched his dark figure at the bottom of the pool. He didn't swim, but lay on his back with one hand over his torso and the other extended. His eyes stayed closed, or at least Persephone thought they did. It was difficult to tell through the slight waves on the water's surface.

Eventually, she got up and went up to the fourth floor. She couldn't stay up all night to watch over him. He couldn't die and Hitomi's body had been through too much to withstand the fatigue. Plus, if she didn't get to bed, she'd probably get sick and that was the last thing in the world she needed.

In Van's room, there were box and plastic bags of her things. Merle had brought them over. Now she had a choice. She could sort through her box until she found something of her own to wear – something she had chosen for herself when she had no memory and was trying to find true identity – or she could rob Van and sleep in his clothes. For some reason, she felt like the choice was suddenly very important. Even if it was not important to Van, it was important to her.

She pulled a black dress shirt from his dresser and did up the buttons. The cuffs fell over her hands, so she undid them. Then she slid into his bed. The blankets were different from the last time she'd been here. Van had never slept here. She knew he usually slept in his tub, but he had never even sat on this bed since it had been made. So, this wasn't where he did his dreaming. He left no mark on this bed. It was nothing more than a piece of furniture.

Taking to her feet, she went to his tub and let the water out. Once it was empty she refilled it with steaming hot water.

She didn't know if she'd be able to sleep here, but she'd certainly try.

***

"You fill me with unease."

Persephone roused herself. She had not lit any of the candles around the hot tub, but when her eyes fluttered open, she saw that all of them were topped with the same golden glow. The disco ball was turned off. Van stood fully dressed and soaking wet on the bathmat in front of her. His shirt was unbuttoned and his wound was exposed.

He needed his tub.

"I'll get out," she said, moving out of his way.

"No," he said as he peeled his shirt off and then stepped barefoot into the water with her. "I want you close to me," he explained as he lowered himself beside her. It was a large tub and there was more than enough room for two. He sat beside her and put his arm behind her head to cushion it from the edge of the tub while he rested his on the wall. "But perhaps you shouldn't sleep here. When you find yourself drifting off, please retire to the bed. I made it up especially for you."

"You could have left it the way it was. After you made it, it didn't even feel like it was yours."

"It isn't mine. It's yours. It wasn't put in this room for my comfort. It was put there for you. I have no need for a bed."

"Ah, but you didn't think I would ever show up."

He paused. "I hoped you wouldn't. I didn't think that any part of me had been happy with you. I thought that I was only your tool."

When he didn't continue, she urged him on. "And how do you feel about me after tonight?"

"I wish I could be more to you, like your lover or you husband, but tonight I see how much you need me in the position I'm in. I never supposed that your need was so desperate. Even if things get worse, even if Hades breaks in through the wall this minute, I'll stand by you. You deserve loyalty from at least one person. It'll be me."

A muscle tugged at Persephone's bottom lip. The feeling that overwhelmed her was what she wanted more than anything else in the world – Van's heart – Van's real heart. "Is my blood really that addictive?" the critic inside her said out loud.

"I can't drink your blood," he refuted without skipping a beat. "It hurts my mouth. The impressions I get when I bite you are painful. Ripping you apart is anything but pleasurable. I want to put you back together, make you whole and let you grow."

Her eyes were getting hot and her mouth dry. She couldn't speak. She could only fend off her tears and give all her attention to the words coming out of his mouth.

"And I want to see what else you have in store for me. I want to know the rest of the story."

"I'll tell you anything you want to know."

"I want to _feel_ the rest of the story," he said turning her so he could look into her eyes and see the emotion there. "Your words are only half a story and I want all of it, so we must continue it until I remove every last speck of Hades from you."

***

The next day was Sunday.

Part way through the night, Van had insisted she go to the bed because he wanted to rest more completely which he could do better if he were submerged. So, she got out and dressed herself in a white dress shirt (all the black ones were gone).

From despicably early in the morning (at least nine) there had been phones ringing and buzzers buzzing off and on for hours. Persephone lied in Van's bed and pretended to sleep. How could she sleep with all that racket?

Van got up and dressed sometime in the night. It was because Folken had come home and Van wanted to hear what happened at the police department. Persephone would have gone and talked to Folken then, but Van insisted on interrogating him first and she was so tired that she easily gave in to his persuasion.

Van let her sleep as long as he could in the morning, but eventually, he came in to wake her.

"What do you want for breakfast?" he asked pleasantly, sitting on the bed next to her.

She sat up and rubbed the guck from her eyes. "Van, should you really be worrying about me like this? Aren't you hurt? Why are you out of your tub?"

"I'm fine," he said. "The blood stopped before Charon dropped us off and the flesh did not mend faster because I was in the water. I think I only like being in it because it's part of my heritage. It is the most comfortable place for me to be. What I mean to say is; I don't think I heal faster if I'm in the water."

"Does it hurt?" she asked, feeling her fluttering stomach and wondering how her body was doing in the Underworld.

"It does. I'm lucky he didn't break my ribs. You shouldn't worry about me. Besides, I was only going to place your order with Merle who is actually about to go shopping."

"Okay," she said, looking at his straight posture. If he were truly suffering, wouldn't he be scrunched up in a ball? "Then I'd like a bagel with cream cheese, please."

"Done," he said getting up.

"What's with all the noise out there? Who keeps calling?"

"I'll explain. Folken has a few things to tell you before I'll let you get to the rest. A lot has gone on while we slept last night."

Persephone pushed off the bed clothes and went into the living room wearing a pair of Van's briefs and his white dress shirt. Folken was relaxing on the sofa sipping on a goblet of blood like it was two hundred year old wine.

"Good morning," he said when he saw her. "Wonderful taste you have in bodies to have selected a girl with such beautiful legs."

"They didn't look like this when she was thirteen," Persephone muttered as she threw herself into a bulky leather arm chair. "So, what happened when the cops dragged you off?"

"Well, they had taken down my licence plate number during Van's car chase with Dilandau and they were coming to issue me several tickets. Actually, if my driving record was not perfect I would have lost my drivers' license last night – thanks to Van." Folken paused and gave his brother an affectionate glance. "I love that I was the one who taught you how to drive."

Van shook his head wearily.

"So, they didn't find out that you weren't really the one driving?" Persephone sighed in relief.

"No. Apparently, after rampaging all over the city searching for you two, he ran out of gas and passed out in the driver's seat. The police came and arrested him early yesterday morning, but it took them awhile to figure out what happened since Dilandau has no memory of that night."

"What?"

"Actually, he has no memory of what he's been doing for the past five years. His last memory was during an accident he had at an amusement park when he was fifteen. They said he went into a coma."

Persephone searched the room with her eyes as she thought. "So, that means that Hades has given Dilandau his body back. I wonder if Dilandau was really going to die when Hades took possession of his body. It's possible that he wasn't and so Hades was contractually bound to return his body to him at some point."

Folken and Van exchanged glances. Their knowledge had holes, so to them, whatever she said was law.

"They brought me in to see if they could get any information from me about what happened to him that night. He didn't have a scratch on him when the cops picked him up, but they wanted to see my car because he'd obviously been ramming something with the front end of his. So, I had to take them to the garage my car is being repaired at, explain why I didn't call the cops when he was chasing me, give a bogus explanation, and act like I was the one there the whole time."

"What did you say?" Persephone wondered.

"I said that he was obsessed with my daughter Merle and I was just doing what any good father would do when their child is being attacked by a maniac. His gun was still in his car by the way and someone had called the cops about the shot fired at your dormitory that night. So, he's in the hospital now being interrogated by doctors trying to piece together exactly what happened to him."

"Have you seen him?"

"They took me to the hospital and asked him if he recognized me. He said he had no idea who I was without the slightest twinge of recognition on his face, which is normal. I've never met him."

"Hmm, and how's Celena? Van, do you know?"

"She's been calling non-stop since sunup. Right now she's camping on our front lawn with Eriya trying to calm her down."

"Why didn't you wake me sooner?" Persephone fumed. "Let her up. I want to talk to her."

Van looked dubious. "She's hysterical. Are you sure you want to see her?"

"Positive."

As they waited for the girls to come up, Persephone asked Folken if there was anything else he needed to tell her.

"Nothing," he muttered. "I'm just glad you've finally come to clear up this whole mess."

"And I am thankful to you for taking the fall yesterday and so convincingly too. You're a hero."

He smirked. "Not like Van. He told me what he had to do to you last night. I don't know how he stood it. I would have lost my nerve before the first cut was made."

"Don't be so hard on yourself."

"I'm not," he said with honest eyes. "I have carried this curse for almost seven decades and I was only allowed to be born for the sake of raising Van in the real world. Otherwise my mother wouldn't have had me. I lived with her and my aunt until I was sixteen. After all these years the taste of blood sickens me to the point of gagging sometimes, but I must go on because nothing else will fill my stomach and make me live on. And I must live on. How could I face you on the other side if I gave up early?"

Persephone didn't answer. She knew how she would act if she was left to judge his soul if he had not fulfilled the role of safeguarding Van and raising him. It would not have been pretty. Life as a siren would have been better, but she didn't want to tell Folken how bad it could have been. Instead, she patted his back and whispered, "You have done uncommonly well. I thank you."

He smiled at her and even if he was sixty-five, he looked like a child.

Then the knock came at the door to announce the arrival of Celena and Eriya. Folken kept his back to the door and Van waited for Persephone to nod before he opened it to let the girls in.

Van was not exaggerating when he said that Celena was hysterical. Her eyes were red from crying and her cheeks were blotchy.

"You," she said accusingly, looking at Persephone.

"Me?" Persephone said back, languishing on the couch. She could tell at a glance, this was the time for a high-handed attitude. If she acted even remotely weak, Celena would walk all over her, not let her get a work in edgewise, and basically dominate the conversation until she got fed up with Persephone's helplessness and stormed out. Persephone wouldn't have hesitated to act feebly if that persona would have assisted her goals – namely if she had wanted to keep information from Celena – that attitude would have worked. Except that Persephone knew how valuable Celena was and she wanted to use her. She was going to fill in the blanks in Celena's mind and turn her from a senseless maniac into a humble servant. After all, she had been Hades' twin for five years – his other half.

So, Persephone lounged on the couch with her beautiful legs partway apart and her fingers tangling knots into her hair like she hadn't a care in the world and waited for the storm to begin.

"What did you do to my brother?" she began. Her blue eyes were horribly bloodshot and her mouth made hideous shapes as she spoke. "He never even looked at a girl until you came on the scene and now he's ruined!"

"What do you mean he's ruined? I heard that he lost his memories for a few years, but it hasn't been very long. Give it time. With a loving sister like you to guide him, he'll probably remember everything quickly."

"Loving sister?" Celena spat.

"Yes, of course. I remember the incredibly moving speech you gave about him at the Halloween party. You were overjoyed to your brother back. Surely, you can help him through this difficult time like you did when he came out of his coma."

Celena's lip trembled violently and she broke into fresh tears. "You don't understand."

"Certainly, I do. He spoke so warmly of you. Did you know that he neglected me just after we started dating in order to tutor you? What a sweet brother! Even if he finally looked at a woman, he always took care of your needs ahead of his own."

"And now that he's had this accident, you plan on deserting him?" she asked through slitted eyelids.

Persephone matched Celena's narrowed eyes and said, "You don't actually believe that stupid story about him chasing Folken for Merle's sake, do you?"

Celena bit her lip. "Of course not. He was chasing you."

"And why do you think I was running away from him? You must know your darling brother wasn't exactly what he seemed."

"What do you know about him?"

"Everything," Persephone said like the depths of his soul were a lightweight matter.

"What could you possibly know about him? You've known him for what, a month?

"Well, maybe I don't know everything. I don't know where he keeps his knife collection. He has all kinds of weapons, but I have no idea where he stores them. I'm beginning to think that he actually conjures them out of thin air when he needs them."

"What are you talking about? He only likes guns."

Persephone smirked. "But he hasn't spent enough time on the shooting range to score a point off Van when it counts."

"Damn. I hoped it was you he was shooting at," Celena said scornfully.

"And why are you so angry with me on this subject? It's true. He had a gun in his pants when he came over to my dorm room to rape me. I ran. Van came to my rescue. He shot at Van – missed – and chased us until he wrecked his car and got arrested. How am I at fault here?"

"He would not have wanted to rape you. How dare you accuse him," Celena whispered darkly.

"What does it matter what I say?" Persephone continued lightly. "We broke up last night. I haven't gone to the cops and the story they've been fed can only help Dilandau in the long run. No one is angry, except you and I can't fathom why. You've got your brother back and hopefully no long term damage has been done. And if he doesn't remember those five years – that's a shame – but it is not my fault."

"Not your fault? If you hadn't insisted he come out with you that night, he would have been with me and none of this would have happened."

"I didn't tie his hands," Persephone retorted. "Besides, why are you fighting the truth about him? I'm sure you know something about it. You just don't want to say."

"Say what?"

"That when he woke up from the coma five years ago, he was not your brother."

Celena's mouth gaped.

Since she was utterly stunned, Persephone went on. "I bet I know what happened. Dilandau, before he woke up from his coma, was a jerk. I bet he bullied you and when he lay almost dead in that hospital you almost wished that he would die."

Celena stepped back. With a twist of her mouth she said, "I don't have to listen to this."

Persephone got up off the couch and stalked towards her like a predator. "And I bet that when he woke up he was completely different. He was kind to you, like an older brother should be – except better. He watched out for you like you were the only thing in the world that mattered and even went so far as to discard his friends that were mean to you. He helped you study and held your hand through the difficulties of adolescence until you couldn't think of entering university without him."

Celena backed up until she was against the wall, but still Persephone pursued her.

"Then," she continued. "You asked him to pretend to be your Siamese twin so that he wouldn't date. He was popular with girls before. They liked him for his dangerous looks and dry wit. What would happen to you then? You'd be alone. Do you know why?"

Celena closed her eyes and shook her head.

"Because," Persephone said smugly. "You would never find another man as good for you as your own brother."

The other girl covered her ears with her hands and screamed, but Persephone didn't let her go on. She cupped Celena's mouth with her palm and dragged her hand away from her ear.

Then she whispered, "Except he wasn't your brother. He was a body thief who knew more about the universe and the myths and legends of men than anyone you could have ever dreamed of." She took her hand away and stepped back from Celena. "He would be perfect for you if he didn't take your brother's body."

Celena looked like she couldn't believe what she was hearing. Yet from the expression on her face, everything Persephone said rang true. The promise of pure joy sparkled in her eyes. It was too bad Persephone couldn't let the feeling stay.

"You should be grateful he has moved on. In a different body the two of you might be able to be together … were he not my husband."

Celena looked like she would snap in half.

"I'm a body thief too." Persephone gave her a wicked smile. "Despite everything I just said, if you want him – I'll help you get him."

* * *

_Author's Notes: Sorry guys, I would have uploaded last Thursday if my internet provider had been providing me with internet. However, I'm glad I had to wait the extra week because I got the opportunity to make this chapter that much better. Thanks to everyone who reviews. My forum is up and available to be posted on. It's available through my profile page. See you there._


	31. Kiss my Wrists

Disclaimer: I may not own Escaflowne.

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**Chapter 31 – Kiss my Wrists**

The next Friday night, the next meeting of the Occult's Addict was staged in the theatre in Folken's building. Persephone was the one to suggest it. Folken agreed to sing a set for them at the beginning of the night. Persephone asked him to do it specifically because she needed a favour from Naria and she wanted to give her something she prized as payment. The only thing Persephone knew Naria wanted was Folken, and lucky for Persephone, he was something she could give.

Van and Merle volunteered to sing as well. Merle got permission to sing two songs to open for Folken, but Van was excluded.

"I need you to do other work. I don't want your mind on singing – just the task at hand."

"What? I'm a siren – I can sing perfectly with no practice and come off as brilliant as an angel. Why wouldn't I be allowed?"

Persephone sighed. "Because I don't want any of those girls to see how bright you are," she admitted with drooping shoulders.

He smiled and backed off.

Even with his smile, that night was hard for him. She knew he was starving for blood. Normally Folken would have given him a refresher bag to tide him over, but Persephone asked him not to since he was going to be drinking her blood that night. She had caught Van guzzling grenadine in secret several times since Thursday. He didn't want her to know he was coming unhinged, so she pretended that she hadn't seen his discomfort and made him wait until Friday.

In actuality, she didn't want to do the next operation that night. Van's wound hadn't healed yet and since she still felt the slight trembling in her stomach, she guessed that she wasn't better yet either. The blood stopped quickly, but mending the flesh was another matter, and her cuts were deep – especially the second one. She wanted to wait, but Van's bloodlust put her on a tight schedule. If he didn't drink her blood, he would have to drink someone else's. Hitomi had given blood too recently and Persephone was uncomfortable letting him drink the blood of one of Folken's donors. The idea of him having that insightful experience with another woman, whether she was aware of the knowledge transfer or not, whether she gave it to Van deliberately or not – whatever the circumstances – Persephone didn't want him to drink it. Only her blood would be right now that their relationship had reached this new height. So, she went outside her judgement and called the next Occult's Addict meeting for the very next Friday.

She told herself she wasn't making a mistake. Who knew what Hades had done to her body? Even if she couldn't take possession of it, she could at least check on it. And if she and Van couldn't perform the last operation, she could give him Hitomi's blood – as a last resort. She didn't want to harm Hitomi's body, so she hoped that she wouldn't get to that point.

Naria and the others arrived at midnight like usual. Eriya came in case Naria needed her to help guide her soul when the night was over. The witches didn't really have a role to play, but Persephone didn't deny their presence. They came because they wanted to hear Folken sing.

Dryden didn't come. He said he wasn't involved in Persephone's problem any more and he meant it.

Celena came, too. Actually, she had spent all her free time that whole week over at Folken's. She went to school, went to the hospital to check on Dilandau, came to Folken's, stayed as long as Persephone would allow, and then went home to sleep. She did it because she believed there were only two places Hades might appear. One was back in Dilandau's body and the second was by Persephone's side. So, she came and occupied a place on the couch without really moving, without really breathing. She was waiting.

When everyone was assembled in the theatre Persephone started the meeting. After the high of last week's rigmarole, this gathering seemed anticlimactic. The snacks were chocolate almonds Millerna was supposed to be selling to help raise money for high school graduation and a bag of beef jerky Merle had in the cupboard. To drink, Merle sent down a huge pitcher of ice water. Fancy.

Persephone didn't care. At least she was getting a second chance at removing her seeds.

Persephone started the meeting by asking how Dilandau was doing.

"Well," Celena began, "he's forgotten how to drive, all his user names and passwords, his pin numbers, and his signature. He also has no idea about his taxable income for last year, what classes he was taking in university and every last thing our father taught him about the stock market is out of his head. He spent the last two days in the hospital sneaking into his neighbour's room so he could play Final Fantasy XII. The doctors are less than impressed."

"Do you think Hades has been back to see him?"

"No. I asked him privately about his encounters with Hades. He said that he didn't know anything other than Hades promised him he would go to Heaven when he died if he let him borrow his body for an undetermined length of time." Celena sighed. "I had no idea my brother was so concerned about going to Hell. And now that he knows there's no eternal punishment waiting for him – he's a thousand times more despicable than when he was fifteen."

"Sorry about that," Persephone said. "If I had never run away from home your brother would still be—"

"Don't say that," Celena snapped. "I got to have five glorious years without him and in his place the best br- br- person I have ever known."

Persephone didn't like Celena's way of talking, but she decided to let it slide. She hadn't been told all the gory details of the affair and Persephone wanted to keep it that way. After all, Persephone was planning to use her to the full extent of her word.

"All the same, I'll try my best to give you what you want – one last time to talk with him. I can't promise more. He has a mind of his own."

Celena nodded, but crossed her arms and dug her chin into her chest. She was unalterably moody, so Persephone moved on.

She approached Naria and said, "Are you ready? I thought we'd switch bodies and then Merle could open for Folken."

"I'm ready," Naria said. She was clearly enjoying being the only necessary person there besides Van.

He got up from his chair and gave Persephone some money. She sat down in a theatre seat next to Naria and put two coins under her tongue. One for the trip down, and the other was for the trip back up.

She kept her eyes open as she waited for Naria's spirit to leave her body. The last time it took her only a few minutes after she had listened carefully to Persephone's instructions. This time she said that she didn't need the lecture and that she could do it on her own. Persephone didn't doubt this. If Naria said she could do it than she probably could.

"She's done," Eriya informed them.

With that, Persephone let her spirit loose from Hitomi's body. It was that easy.

***

In the Underworld, Persephone was surprised to see her body lying peacefully on her bed. The bed had been remade and she had been changed out of her clothes into a V-necked shirt, stretch pants and a soft green wrap sweater. There were even slippers on her feet. Hades must have done this. He had even wrapped her wounds properly though he didn't add a healing balm.

Persephone frowned. This had to be a trap.

Before entering her body, she went from room to room, searching for Hades. Was he there? Was he waiting for her to come back?

After peeking around, she saw signs that he hadn't been there in some time. The chocolate fountains were turned off – something he never allowed when he was home. When she went into the circular room meant for judging souls, she saw that he had done quite a few on his arrival after he had his confrontation with her, but it was clear from the souls in queue that he hadn't been there in days. The last thing she wanted to check was the temperature of the bath. If the water was warm, he was coming back. If it was tepid, he wasn't. It was unfortunate that Persephone couldn't tell without a body.

So, she got into hers. She sat up in the bed.

Nothing catastrophic happened. Hades didn't appear suddenly from behind a secret door. None of his minions materialized to take her into custody. There wasn't even a note for her.

Maybe he didn't think she would come back to claim her body before she was healed. In that case, it was smart of her not to wait even though the pain in her abdomen was enough to make a grown man cry.

She pushed herself to her limits and forced herself to walk back through the palace to the river.

When she got to the bathroom, she knelt down and checked the water. It was cool.

Hades wasn't coming back here – not for awhile.

***

Back at Folken's, Persephone arrived after Merle and Folken had finished singing. Everyone had been waiting around for an hour. Actually, they would have gone home, but all of them wanted to see Persephone in her own body, so they stayed.

When Folken brought her in, there was a reverent hush and respectful eyes. It was the awe she was entitled to and had experienced so little of.

She would have liked to let them look at her longer, but she feared being discovered again, so she asked Van to take her into the room where their donors gave their blood.

When Naria asked to come too, Van refused her. "I'd rather you didn't. What's about to happen is a little personal," he explained.

Once they were alone, he asked her about the condition of her body.

"I hurt dreadfully, as you must also, but I think this was the best time to act. Hades did not expect it. Maybe he didn't expect us to try again at all."

Van nodded. "Where do you want me to start?"

"My wrists. Those won't be as difficult to remove as the one in my neck or the one in my heart, so please start there."

"I may drink a little more than I did last time. If so, I apologize. I'm a little starved."

"It's fine. Drink all you want." That was what she said, but she knew it would sting like wasps and she would want to weep.

***

**The Left Wrist**

The blood poured in Van's mouth as he broke the skin.

He was standing behind a waterfall and the spray was in his eyes. He rubbed them to try to clear his vision, but suddenly soft warm fingers covered his eyes from behind.

"Don't tease me," he yelled over the roar of the rushing water. Those were his words, but he secretly wanted her to - desperately. "I have to get back."

"And do what? Chop fire wood? I'd rather you didn't. Just spend all your time with me."

He took her hands off his face and turned around to face her. He cupped her face in his hand and said into her ear, "Don't let go." Wrapping her hands around his middle, he threw them both over the edge.

Her arms around him held him tightly.

And the world turned into water.

That was enough.

He sucked the seed out of the wound and spat it on the floor.

It was enough.

**The Right Wrist**

Her blood was sour and the acid in it was far from the range of taste that Van was accustomed to.

She was lying on a blue sofa in her underwater palace. He recognized the place immediately. She was reading a delicately bound book as the soft ripples from the water window reflected on her skin.

"Do you know what this is?" she asked him as he approached.

He didn't answer, because he didn't even know how to read the words written on the cover. No one had ever taught him.

"It's my book of dreams. I write down the visions I see when I'm asleep. I wonder if they mean anything."

"What are they about?" he asked curiously.

"They're about you, Darling. Come. Sit next to me. I'll read them out loud," she said making room for him behind her.

He tucked in and rested her head against his chest as she started telling him about her beautiful dreams. His soul filled with unspeakable delight at the delicacy of each one. He longed to kiss her. He longed to be with her forever.

Van stopped.

He was losing his objectivity in the chase for their past. He needed to stop. He needed to realize that the past had been what it was and now he needed to be there for her in the future.

The rest were just broken promises.

He spat the fourth seed on the floor.

***

Persephone felt a sense of elation as Van wrapped her wrist. It was like she was staring down at the chess game she had started playing with Hades hundreds of years ago, and for the first time, she saw her tactics working. Erasing two months from her contract was unpredicted. Then, amazingly enough, they'd exceeded that. Now, with only two more seeds to go, she felt her courage rise to the finish line, since there was so little left to do. She didn't let her mind contemplate the difficulty with which the last seeds would be removed.

"Van," she said smiling through her heightened suffering. "This is nothing short of a miracle."

Van kept his lips pursed. His mouth was dripping gold blood. He wiped it with a white handkerchief and then asked shyly, "Now that we're at the end, do you want me to do the one in your heart or the one in your neck?"

"My neck," she replied. "I'm pretty sure that the one in my heart will need to be taken out last if we're to undo the magic completely."

"Do you think it matters what order we took the other seeds out in?"

"No. I just think that my heart has to be last."

"Are you cold?" Van asked, reaching for a blanket.

"Yes. I'm cold," she breathed, looking at the light blue cabinets across the room if only to have something to focus on other than her pain. It was rather like the time that she had woken up in the hospital bed after she took possession of Hitomi's body. Somehow the atmosphere was the same.

Van covered her with the blanket. Persephone thought it was the same one she had used when she gave him her blood before. Then he got her a glass of water. He put an elbow straw in it and held it to her mouth so she could drink.

"I feel like a baby," she said when he took it away from her lips.

"Really?" he said softly. "You look like a car wreck, but such a lovely one at that."

"Thanks. You didn't exactly look like a rose garden when you had my blood smeared all over your face."

"What are you talking about? Women really go for the whole vampire look, or didn't you know?"

She chuckled lightly in her throat at the joke he made at her. "Yeah, I guess I did know that."

Van laughed too and then bent to pick up the seeds he had spat on the floor.

During all the time that they had been working, the door had been kept closed, but just as Van finished collecting the seeds, it swung open.

"Don't come in," Van yelled, but whoever was on the other side had no concern for Van's words.

The door opened all the way and Hades entered. He didn't look much like the God of the Underworld since he was dressed casually. He was wearing a black sweater with white shoulders and a white stripe across the bottom. Under his blue jeans he wore heavy-soled black boots. His white braid hung over his shoulder and his lips twisted into a frown as he approached them. It was his red eyes that gave him away.

Van tried to stand in his way to protect Persephone from him, but Hades threw him out of his way with only a wave of his hand.

Persephone lay in the reclining hospital chair and stared at him with pleading eyes. The pain had been so great and compounded with the aching in her stomach, she was drained of all energy. She didn't have a voice to say anything more than, "Hades, don't."

He didn't listen to her and placed two fingers on her forehead. It felt like a band of silk spread itself across her forehead when he touched her. He moved his fingers down in a straight line to touch her abdomen. When his fingers lifted off, the ribbon became a net that spread across her whole face, but she couldn't see anything. As he laid his fingertips on her stomach, a new net sprouted and spread there. Then he touched her right shoulder and then her left. Persephone twitched. Her awareness was heightened as she felt, not saw, what was happening. Bands as delicate as spiders' webs were tangling and tightening her entire body. Not just her arms or her legs. These were not the kind of bands to keep her body still. They had another purpose as individual nets seemed to be growing and capturing each part of her body. There was a net around her tongue, others spread around the bones in her legs, one around her heart and others around each of the organs in her ribcage. As they permeated her body, she felt like every last bit of her was being caught individually in a plastic orange bag and squeezed.

She screamed and just as she screamed the pain stopped.

Hades stepped back and regarded her reluctantly.

Persephone felt like crying. She didn't even know he could do that. It was a different kind of magic than she had ever seen him use before. What had he done? He sealed her soul in her body, so now she couldn't go back to being Hitomi. That road had been cut off.

"You're too late!" Van shouted to Hades as he pulled himself to his feet. "We already removed another two seeds."

He didn't know what Hades had done.

Hades regarded Van as an insect. "Do you think I care about that? She's still bound to the Underworld with the last two seeds, but my letting her go to Olympus for half the year was a courtesy of mine." He turned and looked at Persephone with bitterly cold eyes. "And it's one that will not be extended again. It looks like they'll have to find a new Goddess of Fertility, because when I'm through, you will no longer be qualified. There's someone else Zeus owes a favour."

She gasped. He had pieces to play that she didn't even know about!

He stepped one step closer to her, so that the edges of her fingers beyond her bloodied wrist brushed his knee. "You said that you couldn't operate both sides of the circle of life. If all that's stopping us from being together is your position on Olympus, then I'll see you get removed from it. I don't care about the power of controlling all sides of life. I never did. It was only a pretence I used at the beginning when I needed to explain why I wanted you. It was all a lie. I only ever wanted you. So, if you give up being the Goddess of Fertility, can you be mine?"

Persephone couldn't answer. Her head hung in defeat.

Now she understood. He hadn't been in the Underworld, because he was outside Folken's building waiting for this very moment. He knew she wouldn't attempt the next operation in the Underworld for fear that he would appear and disrupt them. So, he stayed where Van was and made it look like he had retreated, when in actuality, he was lying in wait on the battlefield. He had even waited until half of the remaining seeds were gone, so he could carry her home without a fight and keep her in the Underworld as his captive forever.

Persephone couldn't think anymore. She couldn't breath. She couldn't even protest as Hades' arms came around her and he carried her like a princess out of the room.

He passed through the theatre on his way. Out of the corner of her eye, Persephone saw Celena. She was running up to them and the expression on her face was unfathomable. If Persephone had to describe it she would have used the word 'distressed', except that she knew Celena's feelings had to run far deeper than that.

She came up behind them. "Hades, I want to talk to you."

He stopped abruptly, turned around and looked down at her.

Celena's head hung low as she scratched her upper arm on one side nervously. It seemed like he was giving her a chance to say whatever she wanted. "I … I … I … wish …" Celena stuttered.

"I don't know you," he said blankly and pushed through the doors in front of him.

The desolation Persephone felt was overwhelming. Celena had been her rook and Hitomi had been her queen. Now she didn't now what pieces she had left to play. Who was she kidding? She was her own king and Hades was carrying her off into Hell. The game was over. He had won.

* * *

_Author's Notes: Hiya! Thanks to everyone who reviews! Really. Thanks. Anyway, my forum is up via my profile then select 'Shivering Wings'. Anyway, I had no beta reader and so there may be a typo or two. Thanks again for everyone's support. _


	32. The Second Way to Skin a Cat

_Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne._

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**Chapter 32 – The Second Way to Skin a Cat**

Her wrists itched.

Scratch. Scratch.

Her back of her neck itched.

Scratch. Scratch.

Her bandages itched. Persephone wanted out of there, but there was no way. There were two doors out of the Underworld. One was by way of Charon and the river. Anything that Persephone might have used for payment was gone. All her jewellery had been removed. In the old days, her clothes were covered in adornments, sometimes with jewels sown in. Her wardrobe was shockingly bare. All the ornaments in the other rooms of the palace had been nailed down or taken away. There was nothing Persephone could do. Without payment, Charon wouldn't take her anywhere. The other exit was above the judgement room. Normally the army of the Underworld dwelt in those upper chambers, where they could easily be dispatched should the need arise. As a goddess, she could get past them. She had done it before when she went to meet Van when he was born the second time. The problem was that Hades had moved Cerberus. Normally, he guarded a certain stretch of the river Acharon, but he was moved to the upper chambers to prevent her from escaping.

"You can't get out that way," Hades had said. "His teeth would tear you to ribbons."

The scabs on her stomach itched.

Scratch. Scratch.

Persephone dressed in sweater dresses and hoodies. Considering her condition, she would have preferred her traditional Grecian robes, but alas, all of them had been confiscated since they needed pins and brooches to keep them in place. Since she was still healing, anything that wasn't tight around her stomach was fine.

Time spread out endlessly in front of her. How could she fill it? That was the eternal question. Sometimes she spent the hours by judging the dead.

This one was a liar.

This one was a thief and a liar.

This one was a murderer, a thief, and a liar.

It went on. And there was never any end.

It was December. Maybe. Or was it January?

Sometimes she spent the time by counting each vertebra in her spinal cord. Other times she measured her ribs individually.

She wanted a book to read, but books written by humans were too low for Hades and books written by Apollo only earned his censure. The Underworld only had two books. One was a guidebook for Necromancy that was sometimes given to humans on loan, and the second was a copy of a three part diary written by Hades' father, Cronus. He was also Persephone's grandfather. Awkwardly enough, he didn't have anything interesting to say. Hades kept it as a memory. After all he was a man who had helped to overthrow his own father. Having done that, couldn't he tell aged chains when he saw them?

Sometimes she sat on a branch in the tree room beyond her bedroom and blew bubbles into the dead space.

Even though Hades swore up and down that he loved Persephone and wanted to be with her, in the time that followed he was rarely at home. She didn't know where he went or what he did.

It may have been weeks or months before bored to the depths of her soul, Persephone picked up the bottle on her dressing table and uncorked the top. "Hitomi, how's it going?"

"Huh?" the lazy voice said.

"Were you sleeping?" Persephone asked politely.

"No." There was a pause. Persephone had thought to talk to the only person she knew, but now she didn't know what to say to her. She nearly put the cork back on when Hitomi suddenly asked, "Are you done with my body?"

"I suppose so," Persephone said reflectively.

"I don't know how long I've been here. Did my body grow old before you discarded it?"

"No. It's only been five years. Your body was only eighteen years old, but I didn't leave it because I wanted to. Hades forced me. You know, Hitomi, you and I are so similar."

"How so? You're the Goddess of the Underworld and I'm just as broken now as when you judged me. I think I can even see a crack in my spirit and I'm only an inch long."

Persephone smiled wanly. "Right. You don't know anything about me. From what you told me of your history, our experiences are very alike. One would think that because I am a Goddess, I would be able to protect myself. It's a lie. I can't save myself. I can't even kill myself."

"Why can't you save yourself? Aren't you all powerful?"

"Well," Persephone said, looking at the ceiling and wondering how she should explain everything. "I can't cut myself and I need two things cut out of my body to attain freedom … in theory."

"Why is it only a theory?" Hitomi whispered.

"It's complicated."

"Are you busy? Do you have something else you're supposed to be doing right now?" Hitomi's voice was soft and completely empty of impudence. She didn't know that Persephone had an unlimited amount of time at her disposal.

Persephone smiled wide, with teeth and everything. "If only I did have something else I could do. Here's my problem. I am trapped in the Underworld. Under normal circumstances, I have to spend six months a year here. Over the past two weeks, I have been able to get that amount reduced to two months. I have probably already fulfilled my requirements for this year, so I could leave, except that Cerberus is guarding the door. He has brutal teeth and if he bit me, it would be the end of the world."

"I see. So, I guess that explains why you were willing to use my wrecked body as a vehicle out. You ran out of options. You must be pretty desperate to leave."

Persephone's face fell. "You know, I thought your body was good. It worked so well. I never got sick. You're right though. I am desperate. I can't live with Hades anymore. I have taken enough of his abuse. That boy of yours hurt you for three years. I've lived through eighteen hundred years of Hell – give or take a few decades."

Hitomi made a strangled sound.

Persephone didn't acknowledge it and went on. "I thought that I just had to get two more things cut out of my body and my contract with him would be dissolved, but he's keeping me here against the rules of the contract now. I should have expected it since he stole me down here in the first place."

"I don't understand much about this," Hitomi said weakly. "But who could possibly do surgery on you if you're a goddess and you can't cut yourself?"

"I have a man … sort of … who has teeth sharp enough to break my skin that has been doing it."

"With his mouth?"

"I know it sounds really messy and it is, but there just wasn't another way. Now we can't get to each other, so I'm out of options."

Hitomi was quiet inside the bottle until she finally spoke. "You said that it would be the end of the world if Cerberus bit you. I don't really understand who Cerberus is, but what did you mean by that? Would he kill you?"

Persephone shook her head. "I'm immortal. He can't kill me. I meant to say that he has teeth that could cut my flesh. You probably don't know it, but cutting a goddess' skin is quite difficult. I'd be in several large pieces when he was done with me."

"So," Hitomi said, her voice sounding exactly like a thirteen-year-old – all knowing. "What's the difference between this guy with the razor sharp fangs and Cerberus?"

Persephone sat upright so fast she nearly knocked Hitomi's bottle onto the floor. "Nothing," she said. "Nothing!" she exclaimed. "Nothing," she whispered. "He would just have to bite me in the right place. Thanks Hitomi. You are my queen!" Persephone slammed the cork back on the bottle and put it back on her dresser.

Without hesitating, without thinking about her bound up body, she took to her feet and headed straight towards the room of judgement.

When she got there Hades was lying on his throne judging a soul. Persephone went straight past him towards the door that led into the upper chamber.

"Where are you going?" he inquired pleasantly. His face turned black as he realized which door she was opening. "You won't get through that way," he yelled, turning back to his work. "I thought we went over that."

Persephone didn't listen to him. She opened the door and found Cerberus.

Cerberus had black fur with red stripes. His faces were flat. His body was like a tiger's, except larger. If it had had one head, it would have been so large that Persephone would have been able to stick her whole head inside its mouth. As it was, each of the heads was smaller so that all three necks could fit on its shoulders.

Though he was not asleep he was lying down when she entered, but raised himself on his paws when she opened the door. Cerberus did not have the power to speak. Communicating with him was easy though. He might have had three heads, but it seemed to Persephone that they all generally thought the same way. Right then, all them looked at her with the same expression in their reddish brown eyes. She never thought of it before. That was why she thought Van was like an animal when they first met. It was because Van had the exact same eye colour as Cerberus. They seemed to be trying to say, "Don't do this. Go back. Please."

Persephone eyed him carefully. She wanted to measure his jaws to see if it was possible for Cerberus to do Van's job before she lost consciousness. After a minute of looking, she was satisfied. The only problem was that baiting him into doing it would be almost impossible – unless she hurt him.

Lifting the latch, she stepped back through the door.

Another day.

***

Blowing bubbles in the tree. Persephone was alone, until Hades joined her. He had just returned to the Underworld. Persephone didn't know where he went. He didn't used to leave for long stretches or short ones for that matter. Her curiosity was peaked, but at the same time, she didn't want to act like where he went mattered to her one little bit. It was just, she wondered if she knew where he went if she might also learn his weakness. What required his attention outside of the Underworld?

Persephone had already made all her plans. She was determined and for her, there was no turning back. The first phase of her plan involved her sitting in the tree when Hades came home from one of his trips. Hades had to be present during everything she did.

Now it happened as he strolled in the tree room. From what he was wearing, she couldn't tell if he'd just come from Olympus or from Earth. He wore a black silk shirt that had a V-neckline created by the fabric being folded and tied at his waist. His pants were ordinary black. Maybe they were made of silk, too. His hair was in its usual braid and his wispy bangs fell across his cheek.

It was amazing how beautiful he could look and how much his obvious attraction made her hate him all the more. If he had been ugly maybe she could have scrounged up a morsel of pity for him, but how could she pity someone so elegant? He could have anyone he wanted. Why did he need to retain his twisted infatuation with her?

She dipped her stick and blew another round of bubbles.

"You're so morbid," he said jokingly as he came towards her.

"What else can I do, My Love?" she mocked. "No dusty books. No shiny technology. I used to love my laptop so much. It was a wonderful tool for creation."

"Exactly. You don't need to create anything down here – nothing." He popped one of her bubbles with the middle knuckle of his right hand.

She snarled, "Is soap outlawed now? Is my need to make things so totally unnecessary here?"

"It is. We have everything we need."

She shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe you're right. We have everything we need. I'm so glad you're finally seeing my perspective on the whole children issue. I thought you were never going to see it my way."

Hades stepped forward. "That's different."

"Are you sure?" she asked saucily, blowing another round of bubbles. "I would have thought you would have known better than to have offspring after what happened between you, your brothers and your father. Children eventually overthrow their parents. This way, you and I can be Lord and Lady of the Underworld forever. Isn't that what you want?"

Hades drew his eyebrows together in a line and regarded her seriously. "I doubt any child of ours would want the task of judging the dead."

"It's such hard work, isn't it?" she said, setting her bubble mixture in a fork in the tree branches.

Persephone had been selecting what branch of the tree she wanted for days, and now that she knew which one, she grabbed it and swung from it. It was a thin branch and not nearly strong enough to hold her weight. It cracked at the base and Persephone fell two meters into the shallow water. She landed on her feet and held the branch in her hands.

Hades gave her a dirty look. "Why did you break it? That tree isn't going to grow anymore branches. It was brought here when it was still alive and I have extended its life. Now it's scarred."

"Like me," she said evenly.

"Why did you break it?" he repeated. "Was it just for your own amusement?"

"Did you ask this living tree if it was willing to come down to the Underworld? Did you ask it if it wanted to stop growing?"

Hades turned away in disgust and then he turned right back again and huffed, "Is this more of the same fight from the other day? I should have asked for your permission to bring you down here. I shouldn't ask you to play both sides of the circle of life. I'm taking care of all that. This is where the story ends – with you with me. Don't you understand? I'm not letting you go back. I don't care about my past crimes. I'll go on with or without your permission. I'll go on even if everyone condemns me."

Persephone turned away from him like she hadn't heard anything he said. She touched the trunk of the tree and looked up at the almost translucent ceiling through the branches. "I sympathize with this tree a great deal. Neither of us is free to be what is in our nature."

"I am unmoved," he said.

She looked at him again and her eyes flashed green. "You think you are more powerful than me. You think that death is the answer to everything. I don't know if you ever learned to understand the splendour of life. When I went over your comments when we were playing our little game, you said that you didn't want to miss Celena's life, and yet here you are. She's not dead. Her life is still going on and you are missing it."

Hades growled. He did not like hearing this.

Yet, Persephone went on. "You say I am stripped of my powers as Goddess of Fertility. Fine. Even if my only title is Goddess of the Underworld, I will show you my passion for life."

Hades blinked. Then he shook his head slightly and asked, "What could you do?"

"I'll show you," she said, walking past him into the bedroom for whores.

She wasn't sure if he followed her or not. Whether he watched or not, the result would be the same.

She stomped all the way up to the room where Cerberus guarded the door. He went into sentinel position when she entered as he had before. The branch in her hand was more like a switch than a branch, but it was long (giving her range) and bendable (giving her the ability to work it like a whip). She was good with a whip.

"Cerberus," she said, knowing he would understand every word she said. "I want you to bite me. I want you to bite the back of my neck to the point that you almost sever my spinal cord. Do you understand?"

He whimpered. Hades wasn't there yet, so he didn't have to show thoughtless obedience.

"If you don't, I will head for the door and get away. What will happen to you then?"

Each of Cerberus' heads looked miserable in its own fashion, but this was Persephone's last chance that Hitomi had given her. It would be brutal beyond description, but there were two things she could gain from it. If she was successful, she would only have one more seed to remove and if she failed – Hades would not be able to leave the Underworld. After all, when he was gone – she would try again. What if she really did get past the dog? What if she got the seed out? He couldn't take any chances and he would be bound to the Underworld like she was. It was only right to make unfair things fair.

Cerberus was pawing the ground indecisively. He wasn't going to open wide and bite her – even if her neck was exposed so conveniently – even if she asked him.

Persephone took two steps towards the door.

Cerberus put a foot out to stop her.

"Get out of the way!" she shouted.

He wouldn't and he wouldn't bite her either.

She knew this was how it was going to be. If she didn't bring a weapon he would simply block the door and no matter how she moved, she had no hope of outmanoeuvring him.

She whipped him across his middle face. "Out of the way!"

With his head down, he recovered from the shock. His eyes were angry when he brought them up.

She took another step.

He leapt in front of her and she whipped him across his three heads at once. He growled.

Hades came in and stood by the door. Leaning against the wall, he commented, "This is ridiculous. Even if you work at this for a hundred years, he'll never let you through."

She ignored him and lashed Cerberus across his middle face again. All three heads felt the pain and they all started growling.

Persephone was getting excited. This was what she wanted.

From that point on in their fight, Persephone did not get one step closer to the door at the end of the hall. Hades was watching and Cerberus had to treat her the way his master had requested.

He made swipes at her while she scored nicks off him as every turn. With her switch, he was hard to miss and with such a light weapon, it was hard for him to disarm her. He was starting to get drained as she evaded minor wounds. She offered him her throat at every turn. As she damaged one of his six eyes, she knew the end was coming soon. He would be too enraged with her to maintain loyalty.

Then it happened. It was his left head who reached the limit first.

Persephone felt all of it in such an analytical way it was almost as if someone else was experiencing it. Teeth, six times as large as Van's incisors – buried themselves in her neck. The back ones were the ones that were closest to the seed. Through the pain, she forced herself to move so the flesh would tear.

Then his jaws went limp and she fell in a heap to the floor.

Hades was shouting something, but Persephone couldn't understand it. She disassociated herself from the horrible trauma that just happened to her body and with one twitching hand she compelled her fingers to search the wound for the seed. She was convulsing slightly, but she had to find it. Finally, she found the exact spot Apollo had pointed out. It had to be there, but it wasn't.

Had she made this incredible sacrifice for nothing? Had Apollo been wrong?

Cerberus came over and the same head that bit her licked her face. "Thank you for trying," she mouthed when something caught her eye. Between the gum and the tooth of Cerberus' top teeth was a long seed.

That was it.

Persephone reached up and pulled it loose. "Good boy," she said out loud, clutching the seed and she allowed herself to fall asleep right there and then. It didn't matter what Hades was yelling. She was in ecstasy. One more seed was free.

***

Persephone was recovering in bed. She didn't know how long she was there when she finally got the strength to open her eyes. After that, she didn't know how long it took for her register that she was in her bed. She drifted in and out of sleep as the pain of her injuries came and went like the drifting tide. The extensive nerve damage in her neck was probably the only thing saving her from absolute agony.

When her fingers found her throat, she could feel how her body was sewing her back together. The gift of immortality was incredible. It was so rare and so double edged. She had it, unlike her queen. Persephone turned to smile at Hitomi. Too weak to move she could only lie there and let the tears stream.

She thought there was nothing more Hades would do to hurt her. She thought she had broken all those barriers. Who was she kidding? He was an expert. She knew it, because when she gazed at her dressing table, she saw that the bottle housing Hitomi's soul was gone.

* * *

_Author's Notes: Hiya everbody. Thanks to everyone who reviews and everyone who is still following this story. I am opening up my last forum thread for this book on my forum 'Shivering Wings' which is available through my profile page. There are only three chapters left (probably). Also, for anyone who is interested, I have just finished a short story called 'Blog Entries of the Brokenhearted' that is available through my fictionpress account (it's easy to find since my penname is the same there). I'll mention it again on my forum. Also, mysisterisasquijum has done some amazing fanart for Hitomi's tattoo in 'Dragon's Moon', so please check that out. There's a link on how to get there on the forum for last chapter. Thank you, mysisterisasquijum. Also, I didn't have a beta reader for this chapter so there may be a typo or two._


	33. Spirits for her Spirit

_Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne_

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**Chapter 33 – Spirits for her Spirit**

It had been six weeks since Persephone had been dragged into the Underworld and Naria still inhabited Hitomi's body. This placed them in the middle of December. Naria hadn't been able to go to her classes in somebody else's skin, so she had to withdraw from all her classes for 'medical' reasons. Folken got stuck with the bill for her next semester's tuition, plus compensation. She had spent all six weeks hanging around Folken's apartment watching T.V. and eating the food they bought in record time (which seemed a ridiculous amount to Folken and Van since they didn't eat).

Van didn't know what to do. It was wrong to leave Naria in Hitomi's body indefinitely. Exams were already over and the new semester was starting in two weeks. If Persephone didn't come back during that time, Naria would either have to miss another semester (which amounted to a whole year since she didn't get to finish her first term) or leave Hitomi's body and let her die.

Naria didn't want to talk about it. She seemed to be in a position where thinking was painful. From what Van could tell, she had at least two things on her mind. The first one was Folken. At the beginning of those six weeks she had clearly been infatuated with him, but now she seemed to be doing a double-take. When Van looked at the situation, he saw that Naria was an almost perfect mate for a siren … if that was what she wanted. It was because of the blood. Folken could drink as much as he needed from her anytime he wanted and she would never go dry. That was … _if that was what Naria wanted_. However, her view of Folken had been horribly skewed up until now. She saw him when he sang and when he acted like a doctor with her. In those settings, he appeared almost flawless as a lover, but what about the rest of the time? Now she saw him in his natural environment she was finding out about the real him – the man apart from the bloodsucker.

Folken was a father. Van wasn't sure if that made him lose his appeal, but it definitely seemed to change the way Naria looked at him, especially since he and Merle met and talked at least once a day to discuss life. Naria was usually present for these interviews since she was in the living room and it wasn't like father and daughter hid to talk. In any case, Van wondered how much Naria knew about Folken and Merle before this. She must have known something. Folken wasn't close-tongued about his life.

Professionally, Folken was an artist like Naria. That was something they shared. He had one room on the top floor dedicated to his painting. Except his skill was light-years beyond Naria's, and he wouldn't let her watch him. It spoilt his concentration and ruined both his quality and his quantity. He sent her out to the living room to watch T.V. to get her out of his way and wouldn't let her use his art supplies.

She asked Van to take her home to her studio so she could pick up a few sculptures she wanted to show Folken.

He looked at them with mild interest before asking her, "What do you want me to say?"

"I want you to critique them," she said.

At this point, Folken asked her what she intended to accomplish with each piece in great detail. When she answered, he explained at least ten things she could stand to improve on. It was obvious he thought she was a complete amateur, even though she'd already sold dozens of sculptures.

Naria was hurt and asked Van to take them back.

"I'm sorry. He's just like that because he's old," Van explained as he helped Naria get in the car (not the jaguar but a rental). "He was in his fifties when Merle was born. I know he doesn't look it, but sometimes he's really a grouchy old man."

Naria bit down on her lip and tried not to let her feelings come to the surface.

Van wanted to comfort her. "It's part of the curse. We can never be with someone who's right for us. His contemporaries have been dying steadily for the past ten years, and there's this hopeless generation gap between him and anyone much younger."

"No kidding," she said humourlessly.

"But you know," Van said. "If this experience hasn't completely soured you, I still think you would make the best partner for him."

"Explain."

"Sure, you don't see eye-to-eye now, but if you still want him in a couple of decades, he'll probably have reached another level of aging where he's less strict. You can try him out then."

"You mean that I should go live my life normally and then look him up after I've grown up a bit?"

"Exactly. Personally, I think you should spend your time with Eriya. Folken doesn't have the same lifespan as your sister. He'll probably still be kicking around looking like a celebrity long after she's gone, and who knows? Maybe you'll find someone more suited to you in the meantime."

Naria looked at Van with Hitomi's green eyes and smiled.

Van started the engine and moved the car away from the curb.  
The second issue that was driving Naria mad was one Van had a deep interest in. She was in Hitomi's body. Nobody knew it, but Persephone contacted Hitomi's parents the week before when she realized who she was. She told them that she was withdrawing from university, moving in with some friends, getting a job, and figuring out what she wanted to do with her life. Also, to make things worse, she told them that she wasn't coming home for Christmas break.

Hitomi's mother called and Naria was forced to answer the phone. "Hi mom," she started, but ended up having to turn the phone over to Van when the screaming became too much for her.

Van explained to her mom in his silky I'm-a-siren-so-my-voice-is-like-cream-and-sugar tone that Hitomi had stopped living in dorms to save some money, but that he had no knowledge of her withdrawing from her classes. He was all patience and honey as he offered to talk to Hitomi for her … talk some sense into her.

After that, 'Hitomi' refused to talk on the phone and Van fielded the calls. He told her parents over and over again that they were at a dead lock. He would call when he had some news. But this had been going on for five and a half weeks (it took them four days to find Folken's phone number and no one had been able to figure out how they managed that one) and now they were coming to pick her up in two days.

Van didn't know what to do. How much longer would they have to continue this charade? He was getting tired, but at least one thing was clear. It hadn't been Hitomi's body he had fallen in love with. Naria gave her body a whole different light than Persephone and Persephone's was the one that made him ache.

***

The next night there was a buzz at the apartment door. Van answered it, hoping it wasn't Hitomi's parents a day early.

"It's me," said a voice as hard as iron.

Van's body froze. He knew that voice. It was Hades. For a second Van didn't know what to do. Should he let him in? Then he remembered that no one had let him in before when he came to take Persephone back, so the fact that he was ringing at all was a courtesy on his part.

"Come up to the fourth floor," Van said before pressing the buzzer.

"Is it all right to let him in?" Naria asked nervously.

Before Van could answer, Folken came running out to the living room. He had heard the voice, too. "What is _he_ doing here?"

Van shook his head to say he didn't know and opened the door.

When Hades came in the door, he looked different. He was dressed in a loosely knit blue sweater that had holes in the cuffs and at the shoulder seams. His jeans were scuffed up as well as his boots. So, this was what he looked like when he dressed down. He was carrying what looked like an ancient doctor's bag.

"Come in," Folken said when Hades filled the doorway.

He didn't answer but instead came into the living room and after sparing a glance at the portrait of Raidne, stood with his back to her. This placed him in front of the coffee table and directly opposite Naria, who was perched on the couch. Then he opened his bag and removed two bottles of equal size. One had a little blue light in it and the second was filled with a clear pink liquid.

"This," he said, indicating the first bottle, "is Hitomi Kanzaki's soul. And this," he said, picking up the second bottle, "is the waters of Lillim. The fact is the river Acharon has two mouths. One leads to the Underworld and the second leads to a small fountain that produces this elixir. Persephone drinks of this whenever she steals a body. It is the thing that causes her to lose her memory."

Van nearly bolted for the door, but then he remembered Persephone. He had to stay strong. He stepped forward and said, "You can't force us to drink that."

"Fool," Hades said pitilessly. "It's not for you." He bent down and squatted until he was eye-level with Naria. "Naria," he said calmly, looking into Hitomi's eyes.

"Yes," she squirmed.

"Come now, you remember me from when I was Dilandau. We're not strangers."

"No, we're not, but—"

"But nothing," he interrupted. "Listen to me. You cannot leave that body until a soul comes to fill it. Persephone is not coming back."

Van clenched his knuckles and asked in an icy tone, "Why not?"

"I have sealed her soul in her body. Her body-thieving days are over." Then he turned back to Naria and continued. "I'm here to give you a chance to go back to your body. I already said that I've brought Hitomi's soul with me. I'll put her soul back in her body and I'll give her the waters of Lillim to drink so that she will remember nothing. Will you leave her body quietly?"

Naria fidgeted under his gaze. She didn't know what to do.

"It was Hitomi's body to begin with," Hades reminded her. "You aren't wronging Persephone. Whether she could come back or not is irrelevant. Right now she's still recovering from her last surgery and cannot rise from her bed."

Naria still hesitated.

"Do you want to stay in that body all your life? Or let her die?"

"Okay!" Naria blurted. "I don't want to do it without Persephone's approval, but when you put it that way, I guess I have no choice. Tell me what to do."

"Just go back to your body and I'll take care of the rest."

Naria had tears in her eyes. "Hades, if it's true that she can't come back to this body, then why are you doing this? Shouldn't you just leave this for us to sort out on our own?"

He sighed slightly and a strand of white hair fell across his cheek. "It's only natural that a dutiful husband would want to set his wife's affairs aright. Don't you think?"

Van wanted to cuff him across that smug face of his, but held back.

It was good that he did too, because Naria knew what questions to ask and in what tone to put them in. "All right. I'll accept that, but what about Celena? She loved you all these years. I have been Celena's good friend for much longer than Persephone's and my loyalty is not divided. In the end, it's with Celena. I want her to be happy. I'd at least like to take her a message from you before I go back."

"What should I say in this message?" Hades asked.

"You should explain why you won't discard Persephone - who doesn't feel one thousandth of the devotion Celena does - for her."

"Why?"

"Don't you want to give her closure? If you don't tell her, a part of her will stay on pause while the rest of her life continues playing. At least set her free before you move on."

"Hmm," Hades said reflectively. "There's no message, but I will consider the problem."

"Wait," Naria said anxiously, as Hades prepared to uncork one of the bottles. "That's it? Can't you give me something to tell her?"

His shoulders drooped. "Are you forgetting? I am a married man. All I can send her are my best wishes for her health and happiness."

Naria looked like she was about to cry.

"Stop that," Hades commanded, somewhat gently. "I have a few other places to stop before I head home. If you blubber like that, I won't be able to leave. Don't cry. Go back to your body. It's still on the pool deck?"

She nodded, wiping at her tears.

"All right. Then I won't see you again before I go. Good-bye, Naria. I'll be good to Eriya when she comes to me." He stroked her cheek and put his fingers over her eyes to close them.

Hitomi's body lost all strength and she fell as though dead on the black leather couch. Hades wasted no time. He uncorked the two bottles and poured the waters of Lillim into the bottle with Hitomi's soul in it. Placing his thumb over the bottle-top he shook it. When it was mixed to his satisfaction, he pulled Hitomi into a sitting position and poured the whole concoction down her throat.

"Good girl," Hades breathed, holding her carefully.

Van thought it would be difficult. He expected her to sputter and cough it up, but her body seemed to know what she was drinking and gave Hades her full cooperation.

When Hitomi opened her eyes, she was a different woman all together than any of the ones he had encountered before. She looked up at Hades with baby-green eyes and said, "Thank you," before she flopped down on the couch – fast asleep.

He patted her on the head before getting up and putting his bottles back in his bag.

"H-Hades," Van stuttered. "You have more experience at this than me, and it looks like you want to help. What can I tell her parents? I want this to go smoothly."

The God of the Underworld didn't hesitate. "Tell them she met the boy who sexually abused her in the city and she couldn't take remembering, so it seems that her body made her forget again."

Van considered for a moment. Yes, that would work perfectly. That way he didn't have to say she had a head injury when she didn't, or actually hitting her on the head and not doing it in a way that would deceive a doctor. No generated excuse was necessary.

"Where is the boy who abused her?" Van wondered out loud.

"He hasn't come to see me yet, but you never know; he could already be dead and wandering the river. That's punishment enough for some of them." With that, Hades closed his bag and left.

Van went and stared down the stairwell as he watched the white head go around and around the spiral of stairs until he finally disappeared out the front door. Afterwards, Van went back in the apartment and plopped down on the couch.

Folken came out carrying his car keys and his coat. "I'm going to take Naria home." He paused in front of the couch to talk. "Van, I might not understand everything that just happened, but that little scene actually made Hades seem like an okay guy."

"Yeah. It's weird. So, why did he kidnap Persephone and rape her in the first place?"

"Women have been the servants of men in almost all of the pages of history. In those times, men got away with that sort of behaviour. Maybe Persephone had to wait for all of womankind to be liberated before she could escape."

"Think so?"

"Maybe," Folken shrugged and then he went down the stairs to get Naria.

Van rubbed his eyes. In many ways, what Hades did was good. Hitomi's parents were coming the next day and they would probably understand if she was delivered up to them with a memory wipe. After all, they'd dealt with that problem before.

But what about Persephone? Van didn't bat an eyelash. Even if what Hades said about sealing her soul was true, she would find a way out. She hadn't worked all this time to be put down at the last moment. He had to have faith in her and wait.

Besides, for tonight he had to stay focussed. He had to prepare Hitomi for her parents the next day, and he needed to get Persephone out of his mind. At this point, he didn't know what he could do for her.

* * *

_Author's Notes: Sorry everyone. There were people I would have liked to write back when they sent in comments but I couldn't log in and now my brain is a plate of mush. _

_Anyway, I've been trying to write both a chapter of this story and a short story on the side. After this is done, I'm planning on writing some short romantic stories that I plan to post on Fictionpress. Please check out my profile there and sign up for alerts, because honestly - they're going to be worth reading. I've been planning these for months. Actually, I've already put on up. It's called 'Blog Entries of the Brokenhearted'. Please check it out. _

_Next, my forum is still up - Shivering Wings. It's accessable through my profile. And thank you to everyone who is still reading and reviewing. Since this has sort of diverged from Escaflowne fanfiction, I've been really happy that so many people have kept reading. Thanks._


	34. The Last Pomegranate Seed

_Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne._

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**Chapter 34 – The Last Pomegranate Seed**

Time passed and Persephone slipped between the Underworld and the dream world. Pain and oblivion came in turns, but time when she woke from her slumber she felt different. The pain had subsided and she felt the slight tingle of refreshment as an appetizing spice warmed the air around her.

"Who's there?" she asked wearily before opening her eyes.

"It's me. It's always me," Hades answered somewhat wistfully.

Persephone wasn't angry that he was there. It was mildly comforting that he had not left her in the Underworld to suffer alone.

Then she opened her eyes and was startled at the room she saw. She had always believed that her bedroom was the grandest room in Hades' palace. She was mistaken. She could only be in one room now – the bedroom meant for wives. The walls were white marble with gold and grey cracks running along the surface. The floor was carpeted in scarlet and the moulding throughout was made of solid gold. The bed she lay in was made up in white silk with elegant pomegranate blossoms and gold leaves embroidered on the cover. The bed and all of the other furniture in the room was carved out of pure gold. The walls had three enormous paintings spreading up to the vaulted ceiling. The one to the left was of Hades. He looked the way he had for hundreds of years. The one to the right was of her before she came to be his wife and the Goddess of the Underworld. Finally, the one in the center, across from the bed, was of the two of them together on the day he took her home to Olympus. It was the day she wore his red dress.

Persephone didn't know how to respond to this majesty. This one room was grander than any she had been in on Olympus.

She scratched the back of her neck and felt her progress. She was almost healed, but it itched terribly.

Hades was standing next to a trolley littered with desserts. They were warm and if Persephone focussed she could smell each one individually. They smelt heavenly. Hades selected a piece of pumpkin pie and sat down in a gilded chair next to the bed. He scooched his chair close to her and sliced off the tip of the pie wedge with his fork. Then he bent and offered to feed her.

Persephone recoiled. This temptation was too much for her. Even if she was immortal, she did not like going without food. She was ravenous when she woke up after her five year fast, but did not eat because she knew that Van was going to bite out part of her stomach that night. She hadn't eaten since and the tantalizing aroma of the pie was driving a part of her mad.

"Oh, Hades," she nearly wept, her voice croaking. "I can't eat that."

"Why not?" he asked gently. If he was provoked by her refusal, he kept it completely hidden.

"I don't trust you. You said you had a promise to collect on from Zeus. Maybe you used it to remove my title as Goddess of Fertility, or maybe you used it to remove my immunity against the food of the Underworld. I can't eat anything you offer me."

He set the pie on the bedside table and leaned forward to look in her face. "There's nothing wrong with it. It's a peace offering, but it's fine if you don't want to accept it. It's practically a tradition for you to refuse everything I offer you." He paused and then said, "I want to talk to you and you've been asleep for months. You gave me a long time to think."

"About what?" she whispered.

"About love," he replied. His red eyes were so dark, they almost looked black. "We never talk, so I'm going to use this moment when you're so weak to talk to you about some things. When I first saw you soaking wet in the pool, I can only _try_ to describe my feelings. You were radiant. The world of the dead is a dreary place – as I'm sure you've noticed – and I thought that if only I could bring you here, you would magically light it up. Maybe then, I wouldn't mind being the Lord of the Underworld."

Persephone shivered.

"Naturally, you didn't like it here. I exhausted myself, trying to make it pleasant for you. I brought you everything I thought a woman could want and fitted this room up hoping I could excite you by leaving a mystery open for your discovery. This room is your unopened present." He sighed. "You were never going to open it. You were never interested in my presents."

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"There's no use apologizing now." He took a deep breath and leaned away from her. "In truth, once you got here, you were so demented with depression that all the magic was drained from you. I was the one who did that to you and I couldn't take it back. You were never impressed with any of my brands of lovemaking, no matter how many I tried. Food? You refuse it," he said, indicating the mouth-watering pie. "Clothes? You always looked tortured. Space? You took too much and abused it. When you went away, you never missed me. Sex? You always called it rape. I'm left with no way to win you."

Persephone bit her lip furiously. He made his crimes sound light and her ingratitude sound paramount. She couldn't stand much more of his speech, but she had no choice but to let him talk. Her brain was too muddled after her surgeries to even try battling with him. She was not even strong enough to raise her voice, let alone think of something cutting to say back to him.

"I'm a patient man," he said, looking into her face and noting the rising tension. "Living with the dead teaches patience. The man who wanted to kill his rival didn't get the satisfaction, but three generations down – blood is spilt in his name to his satisfaction. The man who doesn't get the woman he wants – his son gets her daughter. I believed that if I waited long enough, I could get what I wanted, too."

"How many hundred years has it been that you have been waiting?" she asked, her voice a hideous rasp.

"Over eighteen, and even now, I feel like it hasn't been that long. I could go on waiting … except that I won't."

Persephone sat paralyzed and wide-eyed. What had he just said?

"It seems ridiculous now, but I never believed that you were serious when you acted like you were unhappy. I always tried so hard to please you; a part of me believed I was making progress. I didn't even realize that I was trying all the wrong things. When you possessed Stella's body and disappeared, I thought it was a rough patch in our marriage that we were going through."

"But I cheated on you with Van?" Persephone reminded him creakily.

"I know, but I thought it was normal. Plenty of gods and goddesses get a little bored in their marriages. I thought that Vangalis was just a toy and once he was dead, that would be the end of it. Who knew you would wade through the river to get his soul? Disgusting."

"What about the second time? What did you think?"

"I couldn't get agitated over someone I could dispatch of so easily. He was no match for me, and I thought he was your toy. How was I supposed to know you were breeding him to be your key out of here?"

"And the third time?"

Hades looked at the floor. "When you took Hitomi's body, I thought you were doing it to escape – as you had the first time. I had no idea of your plans concerning Van. I found Hitomi's spirit and she told me everything. I couldn't find you as long as your memory was sealed, so without her help I would never have gone down to Earth. I wouldn't have been able to select the right location. You would have been at point A and I would have been at point Y. So, with her help I was able to find an appropriate host. Except that the experience wasn't what I expected."

He stopped talking and Persephone was terrified that he would leave the rest of that story blank, so she urged him on. "How?"

"It was different being part of a normal family, with a mother and father who cared about me. Celena was a revelation about love and forgiveness all by herself. Dilandau was horrible, but I knew that when I decided to make that deal with him. He did all sorts of terrible things to her and she forgave me for them because I was kind to her. Unlike you, she liked my brand of kindness."

"Go on."

He rolled his eyes dismissively. "There's nothing else to say about that. Things had changed by the time I met Van. To be honest, I had hardly thought about you in years, but whether you were around or not, whether I had a chance to get you or not – I didn't care. I wanted him dead. When you and I met I was making my plans to kill him, but I wasn't certain enough to gamble ruining Dilandau's life on my instinct. I wanted to make sure it was him. Then I thought I was falling for someone who wasn't you - who actually was you - and everything got turned upside down." He frowned. "It's not like it matters now. The thing I wanted to tell you was that even though I believed that I was in love with you when we were married, I didn't know enough about it to love you the way you wanted. I'm sorry."

Persephone put a hand to her throat and gasped.

"That's why I'm going to let you go." He stretched out his hand and conjured a long knife. He took hold of the silver handle and looked at it in his palm.

Persephone stared at it with great eyes and literally trembled as the fear of the pain overtook her. Her mouth went completely dry and she thought she would vomit if she swallowed her saliva – except her stomach was empty. She closed her eyes and prayed for strength.

"More than anything, I don't want to do this," Hades continued. "I wasn't going to do this."

"What made you change your mind?" she stammered.

"I am never going to make you happy. My doubts began that night when you were Hitomi and I was Dilandau. I killed the vampire and we were in your dorm room. I couldn't think why you wouldn't want to have sex. It was the perfect night for it. At least, it should have been. If it had been possible for me to win you – you would have fallen for me. Since you didn't, that was the beginning of my doubts that I was pursuing the right course. My doubts finished the night you baited Cerberus. What kind of mad woman baits Cerberus to rip her head from her shoulders? He hasn't stopped crying."

"Oh?"

"I'm sorry. Even now, the very sight of you stretching your neck out for him to bite fills me with horror. I shouldn't have driven you that hard. That is another reason why I'm letting you go."

"I'm grateful," Persephone said, her eyes flowing with tears. "Thank you."

"I thought we were meant for each other," he said as he manoeuvred next to her on the bed. "I'm sorry that winning your heart became a game I liked to play. For some reason, I always thought that you liked to play it, too. I thought that if I got you to accept me in Dilandau's skin that would constitute winning. I was a fool." He brushed her neckline aside so the flesh above her breasts was visible. "I could never win."

Persephone quaked from head to foot in terror.

"Don't you want this?" Hades asked in a low tone.

She nodded, but could hardly bring herself to speak. "I'm scared. It'll hurt."

Hades covered her eyes with his palm like he was closing the eyes of a corpse. Then she felt his breath in her ear. "Don't be afraid. This will be different. This incision won't rip your flesh the way you let Cerberus eat you. Van's scratches will seem crude. I know every cell of your being. And I know the exact position of you heart." He laid his hand on her chest and between his fingers; he pierced the knife through her ribcage.

The sensation took her breath away. She couldn't move or breathe or bear the pain. It was too much. It was too strange. Hades was muttering something and the knife's point inside her seemed to grow arms as it spindled around the tightest part in her chest.

Then suddenly, he pulled it loose and the pain in her heart abruptly ended.

Hades was holding the tip of a knife that split like needle-nose pliers. The seed rested in the top. He dropped the seed into a bottle on the bedside table. Coincidentally, it also contained the seed Cerberus had free.

Hades pulled a handkerchief out of his front pocket and laid it over Persephone's wound. "You won't need more than that," he said calmly as he wiped the blood from the tool he had been using. Then he got up from the bed and extending his hand, he let the knife disappear back into thin air.

"Hades," she rasped with tears spilling down her cheeks. "Thank you."

"Think nothing of it. I got you into this mess to begin with, so I fetched you out. That's all." He stood at the end of the bed and held onto the bedpost and looked at her wistfully. "I will be sorry to see you go, but now I must tell you of the consequences of what we've done."

Persephone felt like dying. As if she hadn't been through enough. Now he was going to tell her how she screwed up the whole order of the cosmos and how all Heaven was going to come down on her head. She groaned.

"I went and paid a visit to Demeter. After all, she is the one who governs the seasons on Earth and not you and me. She is the Goddess of the Harvest. I asked her if it would be within her control to keep things the way they are if I let you go."

Persephone's eyes were wide in expectation.

"Of course, she's your mother and she willingly gave her consent."

Persephone exhaled in relief.

"I also spoke to her about the sirens. I don't want to see any of those creatures again, so I told Demeter of their involvement in freeing you. She was impressed and grateful, so she decided to show her appreciation. Their curse is lifted."

Persephone sneezed. "How long ago was that?"

"About eight hours after I returned Hitomi's soul to her body."

She gasped. "You did that, too?"

"After a solid drink from the waters of Lillim, I think she'll be able to live a fine life there. Don't you agree?"

Persephone clutched at the handkerchief on her chest and moaned, "This is too much goodness, Hades. I'm confused. If you had the capacity to be this good all along than why are you only showing it now?"

"It wasn't you," he said quietly.

"What?"

"It wasn't you who opened my heart and showed me how to love. It wasn't you, so I can let you go."

"Celena?"

He shook his head. "Well, she may have been part of it. It was nobody … and it was everybody."

Persephone couldn't stop weeping. "Is there anything I can give you in return?"

"Yes," he said, returning to her side of the bed.

She waited for him to tell her with her eyes as large as windows.

"Kiss me – once."

She nodded through her tears and bent her head to kiss Hades.

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_Author's Notes: Thanks to everyone who reviews. I haven't felt well lately and the encouragement has meant a lot to me. My forum for this is available through my profile - Shivering Wings. Look for the next chapter next week. That will be the last one. Cheers!_


	35. The Way of all Things

_Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne._

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**Chapter 35 – The Way of All Things**

Persephone sat in front of the dressing table in the bedroom for wives in the Underworld. Her neck was finally healed. Hades had been with her for the past month nursing her and his help aided her recovery like lightning. Now it was late April and the two of them were preparing for her last journey down the river Acharon.

Looking in the mirror, Persephone saw herself maybe for the first time in centuries. She wasn't sure if she even looked this way a month ago. Her red hair had lightened so much it could only be described as strawberry blonde now. It was so long, even with her curls, it reached her waist. They bounced when she walked. Her skin was changed, too. Now it glowed like health, like strength. Although these changes were amazing, it was her eyes that made the real change in her appearance. Forget emeralds – her eyes were like peridot.

Sitting at the dressing table, she had been trying to blot down her appearance so she looked less like a goddess, but it was a lost cause. She couldn't hide the brilliance no matter how much powder she put on her face.

She smiled and spooned a dollop of cream from her pumpkin pie into her mouth.

Then she saw Hades behind her. He looked different, too. His hair was still white. His eyes were still red. But he'd stopped blowing smoke and instead of moving like a deathly vapor he walked like a man who had been freed from some terrible burden. Persephone liked this side of him, but like he said, she wasn't the one who made this version of him appear. So even though she could appreciate a portion of him, she wasn't the one who was going to enjoy the fullness of him. That was for someone else.

"Are you ready?" he asked. Since they were going to Earth, he was wearing casual clothes.

She smiled at him in the mirror. "I'm going to finish eating this first."

"Be my guest," he said, taking a seat on the edge of the bed and waiting for her as she ate.

"So, what do you plan to do after you've escorted me back to the surface?" she asked shyly. She knew his affairs were no longer her business, but she wanted to ask in a friendly sort of way.

"If you must know, I plan to pay a visit to Celena. I want to see how she's doing with that idiot brother of hers. I hope he's being good to her."

Persephone smiled. "And if he isn't, even though you can't send him to Hell you could certainly limit the amount of damage he could do by cutting his life short."

"True," Hades said roguishly. "But, even if he is a pain in the ass – his parents still love him. I think that even if he were to break their hearts a thousand times, it would be less painful than the way I would break it killing him once. I'll just let him screw up. Besides, what I learned taking his life is more valuable than the damage he will do."

"Are you sure?"

"Don't discount natural consequences, my dear. If he's too much of a monster, the chances are good someone else will take him out for me."

Persephone nodded and put the bottle that held the last two seeds in her bag.

"What do you want to do with that?" Hades asked.

"I thought I'd give it to Celena as a present."

"But if she swallows one, she'll end up here in the Underworld for one month of the year."

"Yeah." Persephone smiled.

She put down her plate and they got up to leave.

Persephone was in a different kind of mood as they walked through the house. She walked through the bath with her pants on.

"Aren't you worried about getting wet?"

"Nah," she said. "I want to give this place a proper goodbye, so I won't miss it."

Hades shook his head like he thought she was crazy, but laughed out loud when she dipped her fingers in the chocolate fountain.

She licked them with gusto. "Is it true that you have a promise from Zeus to collect on?"

"Yes."

"What are you going to ask for?"

"Immortality."

Persephone smiled sadly and shook the seeds in her bag. "Then she won't need these."

"I'm sure she'd like to have them anyway," Hades said reassuringly. "It would make her feel better to have your blessing."

"I'll have to let her know the wonders she worked with my husband. It wouldn't be right if I kept you after the transformation she performed on you."

"No. It wouldn't." Hades was serious.

After he said that, Persephone had no desire to bask in the Underworld. She wanted to hurry up and get her fingerprints out of there so that Celena could move in happily – without guilt.

Just before they stepped out onto the dock, Persephone heard a whimper from the shadows. She turned and saw six red eyes peering out from the darkness.

"Come here," she whispered and Cerberus came into full view.

His middle face had healed since their fight, but he was missing a tiny line of fur in two places across his forehead. He licked her hand with his middle face, but the face that bit her kept his head to the ground.

Persephone got on her knees and stroked his head. "I'm sorry."

He whimpered. He seemed to say that he was the one who should be sorry.

Hades rolled his eyes and sneered, "How could you be a bad dog? You followed your master's orders since you didn't let her leave. Then you followed your mistress's orders by biting her." Then he added more gently, "You are a perfect dog."

Persephone nodded. Then she kissed each of his furry heads and said goodbye.

At the mouth of the river Charon was waiting for them in his boat. Persephone stood on the dock and pulled out her money. "You know, Charon," she said. "Since this is my very last ride, I was wondering if you could answer one question for me."

He looked at her with bored eyes. "You might as well."

She held her coin poised in her hand. "What do you need the money for?"

He sighed. "I'll only tell you after you give me your fare."

Persephone dropped the coins in his open palm and got on board. Hades followed her and for the first time, they sat together in the seat at the back.

Charon kept his face pointed towards the bow. "My daughter was stolen by a Japanese demon, over two thousand years ago. He's been holding her at a ridiculous ransom. For ages, I wasn't able to pay it. Then I started this and it has taken me what has felt like a hundred lifetimes to earn enough to get her back." Then he turned around and looked back at Persephone. "The money you just gave me is the last of the money I need."

Persephone gasped. She jumped up to hug him, but Hades held her firmly in her seat.

"Thank you, milord, for holding her down. I don't like being touched."

Hades smiled. "Don't mention it. What do you plan on doing now that you've earned it all?"

"I imagine I'll keep doing this. Over the years there have been a great many things I have wanted to buy and haven't wanted to spare the money. Everything has been for her. So, I'll stay here and do this – probably for ever."

Persephone struggled free and turned to Hades. "And you knew this all along? Why didn't you give him the money?"

"I gave him a job," Hades rebutted. "And frankly, he needed more money than a god could give. The amount that demon wanted was an amount intended to never be paid. He wasn't trying to be greedy. He was trying to get Charon to give up on his daughter, but if the demon won't make good on his deal now – I'll crush him."

Persephone nodded. "All right. I accept that."

"As you should."

At the end of the ride, Persephone got out on the shore. She had one or two more things she wanted to say to Charon, but he had already turned away without a wave or a backward glance.

Persephone sighed and she and Hades headed towards the university.

***

Quad was basically empty at the end of the semester. Exams were over and there were only a few random trailers waiting around to receive their grades.

"Celena's in the Occult's Addict club room," Persephone announced as she scanned the area. "Do you mind if I go there with you? I'd like to give her my small present."

Hades stretched out his hand to say that she should go first and they started walking.

"Do you think you'll still use your palace under the sea or are you planning to move it back to Olympus?"

Persephone smiled. "I don't know. I have to go back there to do my work, but it's such a chore. Olympians are so boring and everywhere I go I see Aphrodite and the very sight of her makes my blood boil."

"Still mad about Adonis?" Hades asked lazily.

She pursed her lips together angrily. "Yeah, I am. He lived with us for so long. We were his guardians. I was practically his mother and his name was even sealed in the book of necromancy and then _she_ had to insist on joint-guardianship and then she seduced him. That whore!"

"No one's arguing that Aphrodite is the filthiest slut that was ever stepped on dry soil," Hades commented drolly. "Still, I don't know what there is to get worked up about. I never liked him."

"That's because his time in the Underworld disrupted our time to quarrel," she said dismissively.

"Perhaps," he chuckled.

They got in the elevator and it took them up to the student group offices.

"Wait out here, while I go in first," Persephone said as she tapped on the door.

"Come in," Celena called, but her voice sounded strained.

When Persephone went in, she saw that Celena was white as a sheet. She was that surprised to see her. "What?" Persephone asked playfully. "You didn't expect to see me?"

"No," Celena answered, turning her chair to look at Persephone in amazement. "I didn't expect to see you or Hades ever again."

Persephone smiled. "Actually, I come bearing exquisite news. Hades has removed my last pomegranate seed of his own will and our marriage is consequently dissolved."

Celena stared like she had just got her life's ambition, Christmas, her birthday, and her wedding day all in one sentence. Persephone had never seen such joy on a person's face. The expression only lasted a moment though before her whole face wrinkled up and she began to cry.

"Don't cry, honey," Persephone said, putting her arm around Celena's shoulder. "It's all right. Everything is all right. And besides, I brought a present for you – three presents actually."

Celena grabbed a tissue out of the box on the desk and blew her nose. "What?"

"This," Persephone pulled the little bottle containing her remaining pomegranate seeds out of her bag and gave it to Celena. "These are two of my presents. If you eat these you will be forced to spend two months of the year in the Underworld."

"Wait! Were these yours?" Celena gasped.

"Yes, but don't be afraid of them. They still work."

"Thank you," Celena sobbed, taking the bottle.

"You're welcome. My third present is waiting outside that door."

Celena's eyes flew open. "You don't mean he's here, right now?"

"Yes." Persephone suddenly hugged Celena. "You know, it's partly because of you that he decided to let me go. He said that you and your parents taught him something about love that he never learned with me. He loves you. And I owe you a debt of gratitude that I can never repay. Thank you. With all my heart – thank you." Persephone squeezed her one last time, and then she pulled away. "I have to go. Hades is waiting and I don't want to make him wait any longer than I have to. He's changed so much and been so kind to me. It's better if I don't monopolize his favourite girl's time. Goodbye."

Persephone smiled and waved from the door and then went out. She closed the door between them.

"I guess this is goodbye to you, too," she said, looking into Hades' red eyes.

"Yeah," he said, pulling her into a hug.

They didn't hug for longer than a second before both of them pulled away simultaneously.

"I'll see you around, somewhere," he said breezily, like their goodbye didn't mean much.

"Yeah." She smiled. "And I'll tell you what – if it's a New Year's party – I'll even kiss you at midnight."

"You're too generous," he said sardonically. "Now get out of here. You're cramping my style."

He pushed her into the elevator and waved as the doors closed between them.

Persephone took the elevator all the way down to the Safewalk office. She knew Van was there wrapping up some loose ends.

As she passed through the doors, she remembered the time she waited forty-five minutes outside his office and he didn't come out. Hopefully, today would be different.

Inside, Merle was sitting on one of the sofas. Her appearance had changed when her curse was lifted. Now she looked like she was one quarter nymph and it was a sight to behold. A siren was a dark creature with dead-white skin and sorrowful eyes, but a nymph was full of play and mischief. To do her credit, there were literally eight young men paying her homage and Merle was soaking up every bit of the attention like it was her birthright.

However, Merle's attractions didn't stop all of their eight heads from practically swiveling off their shoulders when Persephone entered the room. Luckily, Merle wasn't jealous and she jumped right up to greet her goddess.

"Van's in there. He's training the new Safewalk director, but the hottie is off at lunch right now, so Van's all alone."

"Thanks Merle," Persephone said as she stepped past all of them to stand in the doorframe of Van's office.

His head was bent over his computer.

"I keep having this dream," she said lazily.

Van's head jolted up.

Persephone smiled. He looked different, too. The pale skin was long gone and he had the most gorgeous golden tan. Merle may have had eight suitors, but Persephone wondered how Van had managed to make it to his office that morning without causing a ruckus. It was probably worse than when he sang outside her dormitory.

"Can I tell you about it?" she asked with a gleam in her eye.

"Tell me everything," Van said, getting up from his chair. A glorious smile was spreading wide on his lips.

She kicked the door shut and said, "I'm lying on a beach and the sun is just setting, the stars are just appearing. There's a bonfire beside me and a coarse woolen blanket under me. I've been eating peach slices and I've danced so hard my breath is fast. That's why I'm lying on the blanket – to catch my breath." Persephone leaned over his desk and looked in his face. "Then I realize that a dark stranger is watching me and as I open my eyes I realize that I've let him sneak up on me. He's standing over me, and I have this overwhelming desire to make love to him. Do you think I need to see a doctor?"

"Definitely not," Van said, closing the distance between them and tenderly claiming her lips with his. "You're not sick. You're finally seeing things my way." He moved around the desk in one motion and slipping his hands around her waist he lifted her up on the desk.

Van's kiss was warm and as he deepened it, Persephone realized that she wasn't going to faint. She wasn't going to disappear into a dream world that would remind her of the reality she was trying to escape from. For the first time she found herself in a situation where the moment she lived in was good. There was no waiting for a happily-ever-after. It was here. She wasn't pretending she was free to love who she wanted. She wasn't keeping her hands to herself for her lover's protection. None of that was necessary because she was perfectly free.

And Van's kiss was better than the one in her memory. He no longer wanted her blood. He didn't want anyone's blood. He was just as free as she was and it was magnificent.

She pulled away and looked into his sherry-brown eyes. "So, when can we get out of here?"

"Soon. I just need to finish training my replacement."

Just then the door came crashing open and a striking blond young man came stumbling in. Persephone's blood ran cold as she slipped off the desk.

"Please don't come in like that. Sephie, this is Allen Schezar," Van said gallantly.

"Allen, huh?" Persephone said icily as she inspected his long hair and curious expression. Van didn't know who he was, but no amount of cover-up could conceal his true identity from her eyes. He was Adonis. "Fun alias. I thought you were dead. When I get through with you, you'll wish you were dead." Then, for the very first time, Persephone conjured a whip out of thin air.

Allen's face turned pale as he recognized her. "I'm interrupting," he said, putting his hands up in a surrender pose. "I should never have barged in here. I should go." In a flash, he was out of sight.

Persephone was about to chase after him, but Van grabbed the whip out of her poised fingers. "Now this may be a lot to ask, but you're going to have to stop being the Goddess of the Underworld and start being the goddess of something a little higher."

"What?" she asked angrily as she reached for her weapon.

Van held her at arm's length. "Life."

Persephone felt herself deflate.

Van put his arm around her and rubbed the small of her back. "So, just let that guy go – whoever he is. We'll start again. We'll run off together and make ourselves into the perfect match."

Persephone pouted. "So, what do you want to do with the whip? I don't know how to put it back."

Van smiled. "We'll keep it. I might find it useful the next time some arrogant brat decides to fall in love with you. I'm not a god anyway, so I can do what I like."

Persephone rolled her eyes. "Being a goddess never stopped me from doing what I wanted."

"That's what I like to hear," Van murmured into her ear. "Let's go. If that guy is an acquaintance of yours, he can probably handle the job without any more instruction. And we've got to get moving. I don't know if you noticed, but we're not anywhere near a beach."

**The End**

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**_Author's Notes: **IF YOU HAVE READ THIS FAR AND HAVEN'T REVIEWED YET, PLEASE REVIEW NOW SINCE WE'RE AT THE END OF THE STORY.**__Okay, thanks to everyone who has been reviewing or who has reviewed. All right, so my forum is still up and you can access it via 'Shivering Wings' on my profile page. And check out my profile later on for information about my upcoming projects. Thanks to everyone who has supported me through this story._


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